Apostle Peter declares it of him in 2. Pet. 2.7.8 Now this is that which we may here observe to be the Temper of the Prophet David in this present Scripture and Psalm which we have now before us The Scope whereof being nothing else but to declare and protest against the Sinfulness of wicked and prophane Athestical persons this he does in sundry particulars as we may observe n the preceeding verses And here now in this verse which I have read he shuts up all with a serious inquiry into the Cause of so much Wickedness in them with the Aggravations of it Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He hath said in his heart c. IN the Text it self there are two General parts considerable First A Question propounded Secondly The Ground or occasion which is given for the propounding of this Question The Question that we have in these words Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God The occasion of it that we have in these He hath said c. We begin with the first of these parts viz. The Question or Expostulation Wherefore doth the c. Wherein again two particulars more First Somewhat which is implyed And Secondly Somewhat which is Exprest That which is implyed is this That the wicked doth contemn God The thing it self in General which he is charged withall and that which is exprest is this That he hath no Cause or Ground to do so The Absurdity and Unreasonableness of it Wherefore does he do it First For that which is here implyed the thing it self which is laid as a charge The wicked does contemn God This is not to be understood of one wicked man alone either this man or that but of the whole Race and Company and Generation of wicked men in the world in all times and ages and places and distinctions of it by taking the word Collectively Wicked men they do very much Scorn and Slight and Despise even the great God himself This is the Point which we have here now before us This is a very great and heavy charge which is laid upon such Persons but it is such as even the same God Himself who is so concern'd in it lays upon them And therefore can be no other then Truth There are three manner of ways especially for the Illustration of this point unto us wherein wicked men may be said to contemn God In his Ordinances in his Providences and in his Servants First In his Ordinances they contemn him and despise him there his Word and his Sacraments and his Sabbaths and such things as these Those that neglect and undervalue these they do no less then contemn God The word of God when men come not at it or profit not by it or yield not to it it comes within the compass of this Censure especially the last which I have now named The not yielding unto it Disobedience to the Commands of God is a Contempt of the Person of God and so is taken and Interpreted by Him He so reckons and esteems of it when men shall fully understand Gods pleasure in such and such particulars Either as restraining them from such and such Courses or requiring of them such and such Performances and yet shall walk contrary hereunto It is a fearful and horrible despising of the Majesty of God we know how we count it amongst men and in the affairs of the World In Masters towards their Servants in Magistrates towards their Subjects in Parents towards their Children and the like The wilful refusing of their Commands is esteemed for Contempt and it holds betwixt God and man more especially It is a slighting of that Soveraiguty and Authority which God hath over them and setting light by it And so as for the more express Commands of God which he has laid down in his word so for the Motions of his Spirit in the Heart and suggestions to the Conscience this belongs to the same Head likewise Every motion of Gods Spirit which is discern'd and yet resisted and suppressed by us it amounts to the resisting and slighting of God Himself and shews what Entertainment we would be ready to give to his own Person if he were more visibly resident amongst us that we may so much the more take heed of such Miscarriages And so as for the word of God so for the Sacraments There is a Contemning of God in them likewise when we neglect to partake of them or are careless as to the manner of our partaking Baptism when we rather wholly omit it or too long defer it or make it onely a matter of fashion and Custom and complement and formality and not improving of it to those ends for which it was first intended It is a contemning and a disposing of the great love and goodness of God in the Justification of it and providing it for our sakes And the Lords Supper when we come Carelesly to it not discerning our selves not discerning the Lords Body but Eating and Drinking unworthily it is a Contemning of such a Divine Ordinance as that indeed is It is a saying that the Table of the Lord is Contemptable and so a profaning of God Himself Who yet will be Sanctifyed in all those that draw near unto him in Malach. 1.7.12 and Levit. 10.3 Again for the Sabbath which is another Ordinance of God and keeps up the life of all the rest The Lords day when people shall make nothing of this to Sanctify it and keep it Holy whom do they Contemn in such cases What onely Men and Magistrates and Ministers and good Lawes no but even God Himself I cannot stand to insist upon all particulars ye may inlarge them in your own Meditations but take it in what ever you will of this Nature whether Gods word and Contemn or Gods Sacrament and Divine Institutions and Gods Sabbath and times of Worshiping and Serving of Him That Disrespect which is given at any time to these or any of them it does reflect upon God himself and does redound to his disesteem in those which are guilty of it and that 's one explication of it wherein wicked men do contemn God they contemn God in his Ordinances in his Word and Sacraments and Sabbaths Secondly In his Providences they contemn him also here they take no notice of God in his Dealings and Dispensations in the World whether in a way of Favour or Wrath. For Favour they slight him in his Mercies and for Wrath they regard him not in his Judgements and so each way contemn him First Take it as to his Mercies they do contemn and despise God here Thus Esay 26.10 Let Favour be shown to the Wicked yet will he not learn Righteousness in the Land of Vprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the Majesty of the Lord. So Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the Riches of his goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance Gods goodness and Favour is much extended towards Wicked men
thee in the daies of thy youth and walk in the waies of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that after all these things God shall bring thee to judgment Preached at Mr. Bacon 's Reading at Gray's-Inn SERMON IV. LUKE 13.8 9. And he answering said unto him Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig about it and dung it And if it bear fruit well and if not then after that thou shalt out it down Our blessed Lord and Saviour whiles he was conversant here upon earth was careful to apply himself to these persons whom he converst withall with the greatest Advantage that might be to their spiritual good not only by putting of them in mind of that which was to be done by them but also by calling them to an account of their Improvement of such Intimations And this is that which he does here in this Scripture which we have now before us where for the better and more effectual insinuating and working of his doctrine into them he does represent unto them spiritual Truths by common and ordinary resemblances and such kind of expressions as they were most familiarly acquainted withall These words are the speech of the Vine-dresser interceding with the Lord of the Vineyard in the behalf of his barren Fig-tree They are a Parable and so do carry somewhat more in them than is in the bare letter and sound The Exposition and Interpretation whereof is briefly this The Vine-dresser that 's the Minister The Vineyard that 's the Church The Lord of the Vineyard that 's God himself The barren Fig-tree that 's any fruitless and unprofitable soul within the vail of the Church or person or people which have not thriven under the Means of Grace and opportunities of being better which God hath been pleased at any time in his providence to afford unto them IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Vinedresser's Petition and Request it self which he here notes Lord let it alone this year also Secondly The Terms or Conditions which his Petition proceeds upon and these are twofold The one is taken from himself Till I shall dig about it and dung it and the other is taken from the Fig-tree upon the supposition either of Amendment or Incorrigibleness If it bear fruit well if not then after that thou shalt cut it down These are the parts of the Text. We begin with the first of these parts viz. the Vinedresser's Request and Petition it self wherein again observe two things more First The matter of the Request or the thing it self which is sued and petitioned for and that is mercy and forbearance towards it Lord let it alone Secondly The Determination of the Time for the exercise and continuance of this forbearance and this for one year more This year also First To speak of the former viz. The matter of the Request or the thing it self petitioned for and that is the forbearance of the Fig-tree Lord let it alone This was begg'd and begg'd by the Vine-dresser in the behalf of it From whence we may observe thus much That it is the special work of faithful Ministers and Pastors and Labourers in God's Vineyard to divert and keep off that wrath and vengeance and judgment which he threatens and which is near to their people Thus does the Vine-dresser here in the Text The Owner of the Fig-tree which was God himself He had threatned it with destruction as he justly might for it's great unfruitfulness after so long and continued expectation These three years I come seeking fruit on this Fig-tree and find none Cut it down why cumbreth it the ground Now comes in the Dresser of the Vineyard with this seasonable Motion and Request in the very nick of time Lord I beseech thee let it alone and for this once be more favourable to it This is that which belongs to Ministers and Pastors in regard of their Office not only to be the Conveyers of Instruction but also of Protection Nor only to defend from sin but also from punishment This is that which we shall observe and find all along in Scripture as Joel 1.13 when there was a Famine brought upon the Land the Vine dried up the Fig-tree languished the Pomegranate withered c. Who are there invited to bewail it and lament it and mourn under it why ye shall see it is the Dressers of the Vineyard And that which were so not in the literal sense but in a spiritual Gird up your selves and lament ye Priests Howl ye Ministers of the Altar Come lie all night in sackcloth ye Ministers of my God These were they who were called upon to be sensible of the present Judgment And so again in the second Chapter of the same Prophecy of the Prophet Joel and the 17th verse c. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach Wherefore c. So Isa 62.6 7. I have set watchmen upon thy walls O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night ye that make mention of the Lord as ye that are the Lord's Remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest till he stablish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth This was the practice of Moses that faithful servant of the Lord and Governour of God's people still upon all occasions when God's anger was kindled against his people he comes in and intercedes for them and speaks in their behalf that the Lord would be pleased to spare them and forbear them and shew pity towards them This was the practice also of Samuel as we may see an instance of it 2 Sam. 12.29 When the Israelites had committed a great sin and God had exprest his displeasure against them for it they desire him to pray for them and he does not refuse it as thinking himself engaged to it upon the account of that Office and place which he sustained as a Prophet amongst them God for bid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you The ground hereof is this First Because Ministers are middle persons as it were betwixt God and the people They mediate and deal betwixt both as it is declared expresly of Moses Exod. 19. v. 1. He told God the words of the people and he told the people the words of God He is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee as God said of Abraham to Abimelech in Gen. 20.7 This is one thing which makes for this work to be performed by them and then which we may add hereunto the Affection which does belong unto them from this Relation This it makes for it also When a Child is in any danger who should sooner speak for it than the Father When a Sheep is ready to be swallowed up who should sooner interpose than the Shepherd When a City is ready to
Thirdly therefore There is his coming at the last day to judg the World This is the coming indeed which is here intended by him and is now to be taken notice of by us as a grand and principal Article of our Christian Faith This is that which we find to be declared by the Angels at the very instant of his Ascension Acts. 1.11 This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Come and come in like manner that is as really as conspicuously as gloriously Therefore it is usually exprest in Scripture by the name of his appearing When Christ who is our life shall appear Col. 3.4 Who shall judg the quick and dead at his appearing 2 Tim. 4.2 To them that look for him he shall appear the second time c. in Heb. 9.28 This coming and appearing of Christ after this manner is very requisite upon a very good account As namely for the fulfilling af all the testimonies which are made to this purpose It is that which Christ promises to us here in this Text and it is scatered as I have shewn already in sundry other places of Scripture now therefore it must needs be so that the Scripture may not be broken Forasmuch as no tittle of God's word shall ever be abolished or diminished or fall to the ground Then it follows also from the condition of wicked men who must be reckoned withal and brought to judgment We see here in the World how men carry it by living as they list What wrong and injustice and oppression and violence there is amongst them What looseness and profaneness and wickedness and all manner of impieties Now these things will not always hold thus however men think they will do so There will a day of account come at last and Christ himself will therefore come to call men to to this account and it is very requisite he should do so God hath appointed a day in which he will judg the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained that is to say by Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul tells the men of Athens Acts 17.31 And therefore must this man come for the execution of this judgment thus ordained And then again also Christ will thus come for the accomplishment of his work of Redemption towards his Elect in the full effects and consequents of it That as he has redeemed their souls from sin so he may also redeem their bodies from corruption And as he is contracted already to them so he may further consummate and perfect his Marriage with them and as it is exprest afterwards in the Text which in its place we shall come unto that he may receive them and take them to himself These and the like considerations do enforce this second coming of Christ which is here signified to us This for the better amplifying of it to us is considerable in all the circumstances attending them First He will come visibly He will come so as to be seen Tha we had before hinted to us in the word appearing And it is sutable to some other places as Rev. 1.7 Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him even those that pierced him c. 2 Thef 1.7 The Lord Jesus shall be reveald from Heaven with his mighty Angels He shall come in state and he shall come in pomp and he shall come with great solemnity Jude ver 14. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all Thousand thousands stood before him and ten thousand times ten thousand ministred unto him the Judgment was set and the Books were opened Dan. 7.10 Secondly He will come unexpectedly He will come when people do not think of him or are aware of his coming Come perhaps before they do some of them desire or wish for his coming Behold I come as a thief says he And therefore blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame And so 1 Thess 5.2.3 Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape The certain time of Christ's second coming is unknown to us Matth. 24.36 Of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven but my Father only Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come as it is accordingly enforced in the 42d verse of that Chapter Yet Thirdly He will come quickly too There 's that also signified in Scripture speaking of his coming In Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be And again in ver 20. to put it out of all doubt Surely I come quickly Here in the Text according to the Greek which is in the Original it is exprest in the present tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do come as if he were come already So ready is he to come and as it were near at hand The Lord is at hand Phil. 4.4 And the Judg standeth before the door as it is Jam. 5.8 9. And thus we see t is coming of Christ both in the thing it self and in the circumstances of it The consideration of this Point is thus far useful to us First as it is matter of great comfort and encouragement to us in our present estate and condition here in the world That which is the scope of the Text should be the use of the Doctrine which the Text does exhibit to us Now we see what that is namely to chear and satisfy the hearts of the Disciples upon Christ's going away from them And so it should be likewise with our selves here in our pilgrimage and in our or phanage as I may so call it It is true that Christ is gone but he is not lost because he is gone cum ammo revertendi with a mind and purpose of reurning again which is matter and ground of very good satisfaction to us To part with our friends absolutely so as never to meet with them more that has some kind of irksomeness with it and we know not well how to digest it but when they promise us to return again to us we do then more easily dismiss them Why this now here is the case betwixt our Blessed Saviour and his Disciples and in them towards all his children He goes away so as to come again It is not a final farewel but only a temporary retirement and withdrawing of himself And that as we have heard before out of the fore going verse for our benefit and advantage that he may prepare a place for us This is the end of his departure The end for which And the end in which The end for which it is so order'd
God our rejoicing is this or our glorying the testimony of conscience So then that which was others mens misery was his glory The unhappiness of many men is this that they are manifest to God however they they carry it with men but for the Apostle Paul and such as he was it was his greatest rejoicing Again secondly It is comfortable likewise as in mens ignorance so likewise in their neglects by taking the word manifestation by way of allowance We are manifest to God says the Apostle that is we are approved of him this was that which comforted him even then when it was not so with him in regard of men This is another thing which is very comfortable and satisfactory to the Ministers of Christ in all that slighting and neglect and contempt which they suffer from the world especially in such days and times as these are in which we live Well we are manifest to God for all this let us be as low as we can be in the thoughts and apprehensions of men let them count us and call us what they please and cary themselves as they list toward us yet the foundation of God stands sure notwithstanding this And even in this sense likewise The Lord knoweth who are his God knows the works and labours and endeavours of his faithful servants as he sometimes speaks to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus And he knows them likewise affectionately which is that knowledg which we are here to understand They are manifest to him so as one day to be rewarded by him and to have a recompense return'd upon them for them According to that of the Prophet Isaiah in Isa 49.4 I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work or the reward of my work is with my God This is that which is very comfortable to us and ought to be so we are much to improve it and to be strengthened and encouraged by it As a servant if his master like him and commend him and be pleased with what he does he does not care what an hundred other men shall say of it or of himself about it We are manifest to God says the Apostle and he speaks it by way of encouragement And then withal ye may add one thing more to it by the way I 'le but touch it and that 's this To God not only as an approver but likewise to God as an avenger too we are manifest to God so not only as beholding our integrity and so accepting of us but likewise as beholding our wrongs and ill-handlings and avenging it upon others There 's no wrong or injury whatsoever which any of Christs servants suffer whether in their persons or their good names or in their estates or whatever it be but they are manifest to him in them and he will one day require it for them we are made manifest to God thus What is said of the oppressed in general is true of these amongst the rest in particular Thou hast seem it for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand The poor committeth himself to thee Thou art the helper of the fatherless Psal 10.14 Look but into Numb 12.2 8. and see how God takes notice but of an ill word spoken against Moses and calls the speakers of it Aaron and his sister Miriam to an account about it Wherefore were ye not afraid says he to speak against my servant Moses So tender is God of his servants as that he will not allow of an ill word spoken against them but will call to reckoning for it and how much more then for any thing else which is of greater consequence and concernment to them for any wronging or defrauding of them or restraining from them that which is theirs which too many now in these days in many places are guilty of this is manifest to him their labours here will cry and their crys will enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath Jam. 5.4 But so much for that And so you have the first part of this Acceptance as it refers to God But we are made manifest to God The second is as it refers to the Corinthians And I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences This likewise as well as the other is added by way of Anticipation and to prevent and objection for here some might have been ready to have replied You talk how you are manifested to God and that you approve your selves to him please your selves with that your inward and secret goodness because you think here none can confute or contradict you well but what are you to the eyes of men and what satisfaction do you give to them This would a little be enquired into by you To this now he answers here thus much And I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences Wherein again for methods sake take notice of two things more First the thing it self which he does assert and that is that we are made manifest in your Consciences Secondly the word of Transition or Introduction hereunto and that is I trust or hope so of it First For the thing it self We are made manifest in your Consciences Where for the better opening of this present passage unto us we must again distinguish of this word manifestation which here in this place may be taken again two manner of ways in which as yet we have not taken it the one is in a way of efficacy and the other is in a way of conviction We are manifest in your Consciences that is by that success which our Ministry hath found upon them And we are manifest in your Conscience that is by that approbation which our Ministry hath found with you Both these may be here understood First In a way of Efficacy from that success which our Ministry hath found upon them This is one way of manifestation The faith and graces of the Corinthians were a sufficient commendation and testimony to the Apostles Ministry This is that which he also signifies in other places as 1 Cor. 9.1 2 c. Am I not an Apostle am I not free have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord are not you my work in the Lord If I be not an Apostle to others yet doubtless I am to you for the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord. The seal of it How was that namely in regard of that efficacy which it hath upon them for their conversion And so again 2 Cor. 3.1 2. c. Do we begin again to commend our selves or need we as some others Epistles of commendation to you of letters of commendation form you ye are our Epistle written in our hearts known and read of all men Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshy
presumptuous Question Page 97 Sermons XV. Psal 22.9 10. Davids Acknowledgment of Gods goodness Page 104 Sermons XVI Psal 10.13 Davids Expostulation with Contemners of God Page 114 Sermons XVII Psal 68.21 Gods Threatnings against incorrigible sinners Page 122 Sermons XVIII Psal 75.8 Another Sermon of Gods Threats Page 129 Sermons XIX Psal 27.8 Gods Invitation to Prayer and the Souls Acceptance Page 136 Sermons XX. Psal 36.7 The Excellency of Gods loving-kindness Page 143 Sermons XXI Psal 84.11 God a Sun and shield gives Grace and Glory Page 151 Sermons XXII Psal 94.19 David's Malady and Remedy Page 159 Sermons XXIII Psal 104.34 David's Contemplation and Exultation Page 170 Sermons XXIV Psal 77.10 Holy Remembrance a means to recover out of distrust Page 178 Sermons XXV Psal 118.18 Sore Chastisement yet not a giving to death Page 185 Sermons XXVI Psal 133.1 A good and pleasant Prospect before the Mercers Page 193 Sermons XXVII Psal 139.18 A Christians awaking with God Page 201 Sermons XXVIII Psal 148.11 God takes pleasure in them that hope in him Page 208 Sermons XXIX Prov. 3.17 Godliness is pleasant and delightful Page 216 Sermons XXX Prov. 9.12 Good counsel to be wise for a mans self Page 223 Sermons XXXI Prov. 16.3 Committing our works to God the way to be established Page 233 Sermons XXXII Prov. 17.3 Gods Fining-pot and Furnace Page 243 Sermons XXXIII Prov. 17.3 Mans devices vain Gods counsel shall stand Page 249 Sermons XXXIV Prov. 22.3 The prudent hid the simple punished Page 259 Sermons XXXV Isa 9.14 Gods Threatning to cut off head tayl branch rush Page 267 Sermons XXXVI Isa 57.21 No peace to the wicked Page 275 Sermons XXXVII Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into Hell Page 282 Sermons XXXVIII Isa 55.7 Gods Counsel and Promise to amendment of Life Page 290 Sermons XXXIX Isa 30.21 The hearing-ear God will vouchsafe to his people Page 298 Sermons XL. Isa 40.31 They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength Page 305 Sermons XLI Jer. 7.9 10. Gods Expostulation with the Jews Page 345 Sermons XLII Jer. 2.23 God no barren Wilderness to Israel Page 352 Sermons XLIII Jer. 4.19 The Prophets lamentation at the alarms of War Page 359 Sermons XLIV Hos 7.8 9. Ephraims sin and judgment Page 367 Sermons XLV Hos 7.9 Second Sermon Page 375 Sermons XLVI Jer. 18.12 Desperation dangerous Page 383 Sermons XLVII Jer. 13.23 Custom in sin exceeding dangerous Page 390 Sermons XLVIII Ezek. 21.1 2. Jerusalem threatned Page 400 Sermons XLIX Ezek. 9.4 Gods mark of safety upon mourners Page 406 Sermons L. Amos 5.18 The day of the Lord unsupportable to sinners Page 412 The Contents of the New Testament-Sermons Sermons I. MAth 5.20 Pharisaical Righteousness to be exceeded Page 1 Sermons II. Mark 12.34 Christs favourable censure of the Scribe his being not far from the Kingdom of God Page 8 Sermons III. Luk. 12.20 Wicked men fools in Gods account Page 17 Sermons IV. Luk. 13.8 9. Gods forbearance of the Fig-tree Page 27 Sermons V. Luk. 10.38 Mary 's Entertainment of Christ Page 35 Sermons VI. Luk. 10.41 Christs Reprehension of Martha Page 41 Sermons VII Luk. 10.42 The one thing needful Page 47 Sermons VIII Luk. 10.42 Mary 's Choice the better part Page 53 Sermons IX Luk. 22.31 32. Christs Warning of Peter Page 60 Sermons X. Luk. 22.32 Christs Praying for Peter Page 68 Sermons XI Luk. 22.32 Christ command to Peter Page 77 Sermons XII Joh. 3.8 The similitude of the Winds blowing where it list opened Page 85 Sermons XIII Joh. 8.30 31. The success of Christs Doctrine Page 93 Sermons VIV Joh. 8.31 Of perseverance in the Faith as 't is a duty priviledg Page 99 Sermons XV. Joh. 6.37 An account of the persons that come to Christ Page 105 Sermons XVI Joh. 13.7 Peter 's ignorance of Christs actions Page 111 Sermons XVII Joh. 14.27 Christs counsel against fear and trouble of heart Page 12â— Sermons XVIII Joh. 14 2â— Many Mansions in Heaven Page 12â— Sermons XIX Joh. 14.3 A Narrative of the consequences of Christs Ascention Page 125 Sermons XX. Joh. 1.18 Christs Revelation of the Father Page 132 Sermons XXI Joh. 14.6 Christ the Way Truth and Life Page 141 Sermons XXII Joh. 14.18 Christs promise of coming with comfort to his Disciples Page 147 Sermons XXIII Joh. 15.5 Humane inability without Christ Page 154 Sermons XXIV Joh. 15.5 Second Sermon Page 162 Sermons XXV Acts 1.7 Times and seasons not to be known by the best of men Page 169 Sermons XXVI 1 Cor. 1.21 The Wisdom of God by Preaching Page 251 Sermons XXVII 1 Cor. 1.21 Second Sermon Page 258 Sermons XXVIII 1 Cor. 1.22 Jews require a sign Page 264 Sermons XXIX 1 Cor. 1.23 Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling-block to the Greeks foolishness Page 271 Sermons XXX 1 Cor. 1.23 The Doctrine of offence and success Page 278 Sermons XXXI 1 Cor 1.24 Second Sermon on the Doctrine of offence c. Page 284 Sermons XXXII 1 Cor. 12.3 Covet earnestly the best Gifts Page 29â— Sermons XXXIII 2 Cor. 5.11 The terror of the Lord a fit means to perswade men Page 299 Sermons XXXIV 2 Cor. 1.10 A Commemoration of a Deliverance past signification of a Deliverance present and prognostication of Deliverance to come Page 313 Sermons XXXV 2 Cor. 13.8 Christians can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth Page 423 Sermons XXXVI Gal. 1.8 9. Saint Paul 's Protestation against Seducers Page 334 Sermons XXXVII Rom. 2.4 Mans abuse of Gods Goodness Page 346 Sermons XXXVIII Rom. 6.21 The unprofitableness dishonour and perniciousness of sin Page 355 Sermons XXXIX Gal. 4.19 Ministerial Travel for the forming of Christ Page 364 Sermons XL. Gal. 5.16 Of walking in the Spirit Page 371 Sermons XLI Gal. 6.4 Mans duty to prove his own Work Page 383 Sermons XLII Gal. 6.16 Of walking according to Rule Page 397 Sermons XLIII 1 Thes 5.3 The peace of the wicked turn'd to sudden destruction Page 413 Sermons XLIV 2 Epist Joh. 8. The danger of losing what we have wrought Page 418 Sermons XLV 2 Epist. Joh 9. Transgression of Doctrine condemned Page 425 Sermons XLVI Revel 1.5 Jesus Christ the faithful Witness Page 434 Sermons XLVII Revel 1.5 6. Christs love to us in washing us from our Sins Page 439 Sermons XLVIII Revel 22.17 The longing desire of the Church for the Coming of Christ Page 445 Sermons XLIX Revel 22.17 Grace freely offered to thirsty Souls Page 453 Sermons L. Hebr. 2.1 An Admonition ta an earnest heeding of the things we have heard Page 460 Books lately Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel INtercourses of Divine Love between Christ and his Church being Sermons on the second Chapter of Canticles Several Discourses concerning the Actual Providence of God both by John Collings D. D. General Martyrologia of the Church In which is also an exact Account of the Protestants Sufferings in Queen Marys days with the Lives of 32 English
as he had it in the Promises so he had it likewise in the Performance and the accomplishment of that promise to him as we may see in 2 Tim. 4 16 17. All men forsook me but the Lord stood by me and strongthned me There was the Lord in the top of the Ladder In the Multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my Soul in Psal 94. vers 29. And so much of the First reference of this Passage as it respects the Ladder it self in the full Latitude and extent of it whether of Christ or of the Church or Jacob. The Second Reference is to the Motion of the Angels that passed upon it The Lord stood above them also as ordering and guiding and disposing and governing of them The Angels as Great as they are yet they are still but Creatures and at the Command of God himself who is the Lord and Creator of them And so the Scripture testefies of them in Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkening to the Voice of the Lord. It was a great Comfort and Advantage to Jacob that he had the Angels to waite upon him in this his present Condition to ascend and descend upon his Ladder Oh but this was the main of all that God himself stood above it for the ordering and regulating of them The greatest means of Comfort without God are altogether uncomfortable and helps which have no help in them it is he who alone give virtue and Efficacy to any Creature and that makes it advantagious in him and without which it can do us no good nor benefit us at all be it in its own Nature never so excellent This was that which was the Glory of this Vision and that put an Eminency upon it which as I may say is a Ladder it self and consisting of its several steps and gradations in it and neither of them could be wel spared Here 's the Ladder and the Angels and the Lord. If Jacob had not seen the Ladder as a pledge unto him of the happiness of his Conveyance he would have been at some loss within himself If he had seen the Ladder and had not seen the Angels ascending and descending upon it he would have been to seek still And if further had seen the Angels upon it and had not seen the Lord stand above it he would have been very miserable for all this This is that which is the excellency of Angels that they are the Angels of God and this is the good that comes by them That the Lord stands above them This is true and holds good not onely of Angels Properly but of Angels Metaphorically not onely of Angels by Nature but also of Angels by Service and imployment which are the Pastors and Ministers of the Church who have sometimes this appellation of Angels fastned upon them and are so denominated we may apply it even to them also by way of Analogy The Pulpit it is as I may so call it Jacobs Ladder that reaches from Earth to Heaven It has its footing on Earth for we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels But the top of it is in Heaven for we bring with us the glad tidings of Salvation The Angels of God they ascend and descend upon it in the exercise of their minesteriall Imployment But it is the Lord that must stand above it and give virtue and Efficacy to it or else all is in vain and to no purpose It is he that must give us Assistance and it is he that must give us Success and a blessing upon all our undertakings or else it will go but very ill with us nor with you neither If thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence as Moses said in the like case Exod. 33.25 Who is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye beleived even as the Lord gave to every man I have Planted and Apollos has watered but it is God that gave the Increase as the Apostles speaks 1 Cor. 3.5 And so I have done with this first General part of the Text which is the Vision it self in the three several Branches of it The erection of the Ladder The Motion of the Angels and the Superintendency of God himself The Second is the Provocation of Attention or the Proposal of this Spectacle to view in the word BEHOLD which is now breifly to be dispatch'd by us This though it be first in the Text yet it is last in our handling of it as it is also in the Nature of the thing For first of all the sight is prepared before the Spectators are call'd into the vewing of it And so here this word Behold as it lies in the Text is very Emphaticall and more then ordinary in other Scriptures where also sometimes we meet with it as we may observe in the Multis lications of it for we have it here under a Threefold Repetition the more to awaken our attention to it Behold Behold Behold Behold the Ladder and behold the Angels and behold the Lord. All are to be Beheld by us And the Viewing and beholding of them all will serve as the Application of all that heitherto has been delivered about them There are divers sorts of Looking and beholding which are here required of us in order to this Spectacle before us First So behold it with an Eye of Wonderment and Admiration as a very Great and Glorious Mistery especially so far forth as it concerns Christ himself Here 's that which calls for special heed and attention from us we heard before how the very Angels themselves looked upon it with Astonishment and how much more then should then Sons of Men who are themselves so deeply Interested and concern'd in it There 's nothing which belongs to Christ but it is worth the beholding and has commonly the Provocation of it affix'd unto it Behold a Prophet Behold a Virgin Behold the Lamb of God still behold when there 's Speech of Christ and so here Forasmuch as he is pleased thus to offer and Exhibit himself to our view we should not take off our Eyes from him but fasten them upon him Look upon him in both his Natures and look upon him in all his Offices as they are laid before us It is that which is here required and expected from us This Vision it was not onely for Jacob but also for us and it does very much belong unto us This Ladder is still standing even to this present day and is not removed or taken down but we may look upon it Not in a Dream but waking nor in the Shaddow onely but in the Substance We all now may with open face Behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord c. as it is 2 Cor. 3.18 Secondly With an eye of Faith we are to behold it so also as improving it to our own great Comfort and Consolation in the greatest Troubles and perplexities that may befall us
Final point or Conclusive He ends the Year as well as begins it with the Expressions of his Goodness in it He Crowns the Year with his Goodness Psal 65.11 Solomon tells us that the End of a thing is better then the Beginning and so inded it is in that which is Good And this is that which is Remarkable in God in his Dealings and Proceedings with his Church he is always sure to make a good End and cheifly with them nay where the Beginning may seem at least to be Contrary yet the End is always Comfortable ye have heard of the patience of Job and ye have seen the end of the Lord. Know ye that the Lord is very Pitiful and of tender Mercy as it is in Jam. 5.11 Thus is God Gracious to his Land and People in all Points and Periods of time from the beginning of the year to the end of the year from one year to another Yea from one Age to another Lord thou hast been our Dwelling-place in all Generations In Generation and in Generation as it runs in the Hebrew Text. Remember the days of old Consider the years of many Generations Ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee Namely of thy Goodness to them Deut. 32.7 Yea further ther 's a larger Extent yet behind then all this And that is from Everlasting to Everlasting in Psal 103.17 Thus is his Mercy upon them that fear him and his Righteousness unto their Childrens Children as it is there exprest that is not in the full compass of time but also before time was Even till time shall be no more from Everlasting in Election to Everlasting in Salvation The Sum of all for the use of it to our selves comes to this To teach us to make an answerable Improvement of it which we are to do Especially three manner of ways First In a way of Thankfulness and Acknowledgment Secondly in a way of Faith and Dependance and Thirdly in way of Truth and Obedience First In a way of Thankfulness and Acknowledgment where we have at any time the Experience of this made good to us in our own Particulars as we very much have Let us but cast our Eyes back upon the year newly past and consider if it hath not been thus indeed in a great measure with our selves How hath the Providence of God watcht over us and the Eyes of the Lord our God been upon us from the beginning of the year to the end of the year In our Persons in our Families in our Imployments in our several Condions Assisting us in them carrying us through them Preserving and Prospering of them to us we know what a sad year it hath been as in other Respects so especially as to the sad Distempers and Sicknesses which have been amongst us sweeping and carying away many which were more likely to live then our selves Now that we should be alive this day and have our health continued to us notwithstanding such Danger how much does it concern us to apprehend it and to be sensible of it That Gods Eye hath in this sense been upon us from the beginning of the year to the end of the year What can we render unto the Lord for all his Goodness his special singular peculiar and distinguishing Goodness in the whole Compass and Latitude of it Secondly In a way of Faith and Dependance let us make use of it so also that so we who have had Experience of his Goodness for the year past may still wait upon him in the use of all good means for the year Insuing and Comfortably rest in that Providence which God does Exercise towards his Church and People It is very Satisfactory in times of Vnecertainty and Hazard and Suspicion we know what 's in the Beginning of the year but we know not what may bee in the proceedings of it or before the End of it Yea but this we know That Beginnings and Proceedings and Endings they are all at the Disposal of the Lord our times are in Gods hand both first and last And his Eyes are always upon his Church from the Beginning of the year to the End of the year All things shall work for the best to them that love God as the Apostle Paul tells us in Rom. 8.28 And as the Preacher Solomon tells us in Eccl. 8.12.23 Though a Sinner do Evil an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him But it shall not be well with the Wicked c. Thirdly In a way of Fruitfulness and Obedience we are to improve this point so likewise That as the Eyes of the Lord our God are upon us in this Extent and Production so our Eyes may be upon Him likewise in the same Extent As his in a way of Providence and Protection and Preservation So ours in a way of Obedience and Fruitfulness and Circumspection First To Begin the year with him as he does with us and thereby to lay a good Foundation of Holy Conversation to our selves To set our selves in a good way at first in this Entrance of time Indeed God by right should have the first Fruits of all our times in all the parts and Distributions of it The first of the Day in the Devotions of the Morning the first of the Week in the Sanctification of the Sabbath the first of the Life in the buddings forth of the Childhood And here now the first of the Year in the beginning of such a time as this It is that which Divers amongst us may in a manner have been said to do this Day already In the Renewal of Conenants with God at the Lords Table we have there now Sollemnly ingaged our selves to walk more Closely and perfectly with him for the time to come and to give him the Fruits of the following Year and all our life after in answerable Obedience to him Now it Concerns us accordingly to be always mindful of this our sollemn Vow and ingagement to him And in particular to begin well with him A good Beginning has that which makes way for a good Ending If we have hitherto been any way failing in our Duty and Neglected it Let us now at least and at last keep it Secondly Let us proceed also as God does with us He begines and he goes on in his Goodness his Eyes which he cast upon his Church and People they never fail but continue and hold good still So should our Eyes also upon him we should perfectly Continue in Goodness and proceed in it from one Degree of it to another As the yeare rises in the Light of it so should we rise also in the Improvement of it This is the Nature and Disposition of those that are good as it is in Prov. 4.18 The path of the just is as the shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day and unto the perfect Year Thirdly
Wisdom and strength he hath Counsel and Vnderstanding as it is in Job 12.13 And this strength of his he does purposely improve against those which are his Enemies as it follows in the next vers to the Text vers 10. of this Chapter The Adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to peeces c. These words By strength shall no man prevail being taken in reference to the Wicked And the Second Clause in the verse where 't is said The Wicked shall be silent in Darkness It may hold good in a double way of Explication First As to the saving of themselves And Secondly As to the offending of others the Saints and Servants of God which are better then themselves Their strength it shall not prevail in them to either purpose First As to the saving of themselves it shall not serve them for that but they shall certainly and irrecoverably be destroyed God will be sure to be avenged upon all those which are Evil doers and they shall not Escape none shall deliver them out of his hand As we have it at large exprest unto us in Amos 2. vers 14.15.16 The Flight shall perish from the Swift and the Strength shall not strengthen his Force neither shall the Mighty deliver himself neither shall he stand that handleth the Bow and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself neither shall he that Rideth the Horse deliver Himself and he that is Couragious among the Mighty shall flee away naked in that day saith the Lord. Where the Prophets cuts of hope of Escape from wicked men in the greatest Advantages which seem to be upon them This is matter of great Awakening and Astonishment to all wicked men and may teach them to look about them to Consider what ever it be which they look upon as their strength and Excellency that it is not that which will secure them against Divine Vengance but it will pursue them and overtake them notwithstanding so that they shall not Escape And therefore hence to be perswaded to Repentance and Reformation and amendment of life There is no way whereby to prevail upon God but by his own strength that is by strength which is Communicated from Him the strength of Faith and Prayer and Supplications and Turning to him For any way else it will not do But Secondly As this holds in their insufficiency as to the saving of themselves so likewise as to the offending of others by making those words the wicked shall be silent in Darkness an Expression of their Weakness and inability of attempts upon the Church they shall not know here what to do nor what to say against the people of God but shall be as those which are Amased and Astonish't and Damp't and put to Silence in themselves This the Holy Ghost here amplifies by adding this Clause to it For by strength shall no man prevail If the matter went by outward strength always Gods people might perhaps go by the worse and their Adversaries might prevail against them and insult and triumph over them but this it does not do There is Greater strength which is Acting and Moving and stirring for them and such as the other is unable to resist This it hath a double Improvement which does follow from it First Of Confusion to the Wicked and those which are the Churches Enemies whilst they shall consider that all their attempts and undertakings are in vain to this purpose and that they shall not prevail in them There 's nothing which does usually more confound men then unlikelyhood of success in that which they set their hands unto This is the Case and Condition of such as these towards the Servants of God as it is in Psal 129.1.2.3.4 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel say many a time have they afflicted me from my youth but they have not prevailed against me The Plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows The righteous Lord hath Cut asunder the Cords of the Wicked So Esay 8.9.10 Associate your selves O ye people and give ear O ye of all Nations gird your selves and ye shall be broken in peices gird your selves and ye shall be broken in peices take Council together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us Thus seems Emanuel God with us in our Nature and so with the Persons he shall disappoint you Secondly This is a matter of Confusion and Discouragement to the Enemy so of Comfort and Consolation to the Church The people of God are oftentimes as Agur says of the Conyes a feeble folk such as have no strength in them yea but they make their nest in the Rock even the Rock of Ages in which is Everlasting strength as the Prophet speaks Esay 26.4 And this is that which may support them in all the Assaults which are made upon them whether Corporal or Spiritual thus as on the one hand The Lord shall keep the feet of his Saints so also on the other hand That the wicked shall be silent in Darkness aad that by strength shall no man prevail This is that which we have here made good unto us in this present Occasion with the Circumstances of it Here 's an Instance of what hath hitherto been deliver'd in all Particulars both as to the different State and Condition of different Persons and the same Account which is given of Each As for the different State and Condition of different Persons we have that here in both the Branches of it Both as to the keeping of the feet of the Saints and as to the Wicked's Silence in Darkness The former in God's Gracious Preservation of those who were then the Members of both Houses of Parliament and in them of the whole State and Church of God in this Nation from the Effects of that Hellish Conspiracy of the Gunpowder Treason attempted by the Papists against them in the year 1605 on the first day of November A Providence which is never to be forgotten by us in this Kingdom but to be transmitted to all Posterity we may here say with a witness that God hath kept the feet of his Saints in that he hath not suffered them to be takeniâ— the Snare of the Wicked Our Soul is Escaped as a Bird out of the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken and we are delivered as the Psalmist speaks in the like case of Israel Psal 124.7 Thus it Concerns us not onely barely to take notice of but to take notice of with Advantage and Improvement and that Especially to a threefold particular First To Thankfulness and Acknowledgment of the Great Mercy and goodness of God to us in this particular I say of his Goodness to us for our particular Persons who are interested and concern'd in it either as these who had it taken effect might either have not been or have been destroyed and so thereby prevented from those Mercies which have been
punishments of the sword that ye may know there is a judgement Wrath not onely of men but also as it seems there to be implyed of God himself as proceeding from his righteous judgement when the Lord is angry he sends the sword into such a Country for the punishment of it They chose new Gods then was there war in the gates Iudg. 5.8 Namely as a punishment of their Idolatry All these evils proceed from hence mens sinning against God As for example in the Israelites dividing from the rest of their brethren this thing is said to be of the Lord. The same may be also said in like manner of all others besides they do relate and refer to him Now therefore if He will give quietness surely none can be able to make trouble in this regard All the Armies and Forces which are abroad through the whole world they doe as I may say serve in this sense under his command and therefore if he will but disband them there must needs be peace and quietness presently out of hand without more adoe That 's the first Branch of this first proposition when God will give a Kingdom quietness none shall be able any way to disturb it Secondly Let us take notice of the other And when he hides his face who then can behold him This hiding of the face in this place is differently expounded by Interpreters I shall present to you that which is most probable and fasten upon what I conceive most agreeable to the scope of this Scripture First there are some which here by Gods face do understand the wayes of his providence and so they make the sense this when God will walk in a secret way for the disposing of things in a Kingdom there is no discerning of him this is that which we may sometimes observe in our own experience That the Lord is pleased now and then to go before us in the works of his providence after a more clear and conspicuous manner so that we may easily see and perceive and apprehend what he is doing in the world He writes it in great Characters and Capital letters as we may so express it that whosoever runs may read it as the Prophet speaks Again at other times he carries things after a more hidden manner His wayes are in the deepes and His Counsels are unsearchable and His judgements past finding out and now in such a case as this is none can behold him thus we have it in Psal 74.9 We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long It pleases the Lord sometimes so to order things and dispose of them that the wisest and holiest man in a kingdom cannot tell what to say to them Those which have most acquaintance with God which have greatest interest in him and which are most familiarly used unto him they are sometimes ready to be puzzled and stagger'd at some dispensations and they lay their hands upon their mouthes in a way of astonishment and admiration That 's one meaning of these words But Secondly another meaning of them is this by taking Gods face here for the visible expressions of his love and favour to any Kingdom or Nation When he hides his face from any people that is when he withdraws the pledges of his goodness from them who then can indeed behold him That is who can indure before him who is able to stand in his presence with any comfort or contentment at all And according to this interpretation we have this truth from it That when the Lord is indeed angry and displeased with any kingdom or nation that Kingdom or Nation is in a very sad and lamentable condition When he hides his face who then can behold him Psal 76.6 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry And Nahum 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger His fury is poured out like fire and the riches are thrown down by him And Psal 90.11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath And many such places there are to signifie the sadness of Gods displeasure This may be further explain'd and laid open to us in these following particulars as demonstrations of it First when God is angry with a people he takes them short in those outward comforts which they have formerly been partakers off as we find in that expression used in 2 King 10.32 In those dayes the Lord began to cut Israel short He takes away that former peace and plenty and abundance which they have sometimes injoy'd this in a sense is an hiding of his face forasmuch as every comfort is in its place a beam of Gods countenance It is God that puts comfort into the creatures and that makes them comfortable to us Now the Lord when he is displeased with a Nation he oftimes does deprive them of these as he threatens his own people of Israel in Hos 2.9 Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and I will recover my wooll and my flax c. I will recover it Mark the expression as who should say he had let them have it hitherto in a manner before he was aware and they had stollen it as it were from him against his will but he would fetch all back again from them Secondly As he takes away these comforts so also which is the consequent of it he sends Judgments and plagues in stead of them which are quite opposite and contrary to them These he hath divers sorts of as ye may see in Deut. 28. which he threatens to the children of Israel upon supposition of their disobedience Cursing and vexation and rebuke in all that they set their hand unto ver 20. c. And so his three evil arrows which he mentions in other places likewise Sword Famine and Pestilence c. They are such as are effects and testimonies of Gods wrath and displeasure against a Nation and especially and above all the sword that judgment which is now upon us it is a principal expression of his wrath when the enemies roar in the midst of the Congregations and set up their Ensigns for signs as it is in Psal 74.4 Thirdly He also sometimes layes upon them spiritual judgements which are the greatest judgements of all He takes away his Gospel and his Ministers and his Ordinances He remove's the Candlestick out of its place as we have lately shewn out of another Scripture This is the true hiding of his face indeed there being nothing wherein he does more appear and shew himself then in such dispensations as these are The Gospel it is the glass which represents to us the face of Jesus Christ and wherein we see the glory of the Lord when therefore God takes away this at any time from any
People or Nation who then uncover'd can behold him In all these particular respects do we see the sad condition of that Nation which God is angry and displeased withal To proceed to the Application of these two Branches both together wee l joyn them both in one and wee 'l make this improvement of them First we may here take notice of the sad condition which is upon our selves in this Kingdom at this present time from whom the Lord does in a more especial manner as we may say hide his face and so as we cannot behold him in that manner as we have formerly done This calls us to a serious search and inquiry and examination of of our hearts and humbling of our selves before God upon these occasions It is that which we should be very much affected with and lay to heart we are apt to be somewhat affected with the evils and calamities themselves as they pinch upon our senses and are cross to flesh and blood but that which should chiefly trouble us is the displeasure of an angry God and the withdrawing of his countenance from us Though we wanted our peace and prosperity and the plenty of former times yet if still in the mean time the Lord himself were well pleased with us we might be able to make a shift for all this But now that he frowns upon us and expresses himself as angry with us this is the great mischief and misery of all when he hides his face who then can behold him This is the sting of any affliction the wrath of God mingled with it As on the otherside it is the sweetness of any blessing to apprehend it as a pledge of Gods love And thus amongst our selves which is the worse as God will not be intreated by us he will not hear Moses nor Jeremy for us Isa 33.7 Secondly We are taught from these points to make our peace especially with God If when he gives quietness none can make trouble and when He hides his face none can behold him then certainly it is the safest way for us to make our peace and reconcilement with him yea and to begin with him first I do not deny but that other means both may and ought to be used as there are now other means on foot at this present time amongst our selves but we must not rest and depend upon these means nor make these our onely refuge and supportment in such conditions as these are No but rather betake our selves to the Lord who is the great peace maker of all And that upon these considerations which may serve as incouragements hereunto First Peace with God is the most General and comprehensive peace it takes into an agreement all enemies and adversaries that are If a man make peace with one enemy and as soon as ever he hath done with him there 's another falls presently upon his back he hath but little quietness for all this Now thus is it with that Kingdom or Nation which does not make peace with God it may be they may make a league with that enemy which at present does trouble and afflict them and as soon as they have done with him there 's another falls immediately upon them This is likely to be the case with us if we should take such a course as this Suppose we should make up the breach and difference which is betwixt our selves and in the mean time suffer the controversie to be dependent which is betwixt our selves and the Lord what are we helpt and advantaged by the matter when as soon as we had done a Forrein enemy would be ready for us as the Lord threatens his people by the Prophet Isa 7.18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermot part of the rivers of Egypt and for the Bee that is in the land of Assyria That is he shall fetch a Forrein power for the affliction and punishing of them even so the Lord might doe with us in this condition French Spaniard Turk if need were these would be quickly at hand upon us if the Lord were not at peace with us But now on the otherside having peace with him we shall have peace with all others else besides As Eliphas speaks to this purpose in Job 5.23 Thou shalt be in League with the Stones of the Field and the Beasts of the Field shall be at peace with thee And thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace c. Secondly Peace with God is peace upon the best terms and Conditions that may be that 's a desireable peace which has true peace indeed in it Now such is that peace which any Kingdom has with God it has all the Qualifications and Conditions of a worthy peace in it as to instance in some one or two Particulars First It 's a Religious peace it 's a peace with the injoyment of a good Conscience in the making of it it 's possible to make peace with men so as therein to wound men's Souls and Consciences This is a miserable peace indeed and such as is a great deale worse then the Cruellest war but now when we are at peace with God we preserve inviolable yea indeed we cannot preserve this so without making this Secondly It is a Free-peace it is a Peace which has the greatest Liberty in it that may be The Gibeonites made peace with the Israelites but they became Bondmen and Slaves and so is it with all those which are at Peace with Satan and at an agreement with Hell and so sometimes those which are in Confederacy and League with wicked men but that People which makes peace with God shall have abundance of Freedom Thirdly It is a Sincere and Hearty peace there is no fraud or deceit in it In peace betwixt men and men there is many times a great deal of falshood and Treachery and perfidious dealing as it is said of him in the Psalmes He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him he hath broken his Covenant The words of his mouth were smoother then Butter but war was in his Heart his words were softer then Oyle yet were they drawn Swords Psal 55.20.21 vers This is often in humane peace but in the peace which is made with God there is no fear of all these if we keep faithful to God he will keep faithful to us and to his Covenant of peace with us Thus we see what incouragement we have to incline to such a peace as this is well that which now lies chiefly upon us is to indeavour after it so to order and dispose of our matters as that God may be Graciously pleased to be reconciled with the Kingdom wherein we live and to vouchsafe peace unto us where it will not be amiss for us to lay down some rules and observations as may herein be helpful to us where in I shall apply my self to such as do seem to
lie within the compass and reach of every particular person amongst us Every Christian may thus far be a Statesman and it becomes him so to be and every private Person may in this sense much dispose of the Kingdom as to that peace which we are to procure to the Kingdom in General which as I Conceive may be brought about in a likely way by these means and ways viz. First By every ones Lamenting and Bewailing of his own private Sins and the abominations of the Land wherein he lives every Sin unrepented off is a quarrel which God has against the Kingdom and for which he threatens the Destruction of it And therefore the way to reconcilement is Mourning and Humiliation for it this is the counsell which the Lord gives by his Prophet in Zeph. 2.1.2 c. Gather your selves together yea gather your selves together O Nation not desired and before the decree bring forth before the day pass at the Chaff before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you c. This gathering of our selves here together is not so much a gathering of our Persons as it is indeed a gathering of our thoughts and recollecting of matters with our selves to consider how things are with us neither does it imply this onely but also doing it with some Affection so as to be grieved and afflicted in our selves where we are conscious that we have done any thing amiss this is one way and means to procure Atonement and Reconciliation betwixt God and the Kingdom wherein we are Secondly This is not all but further there is required Amendment and Reformation for time to come Humiliation without Reformation is of no Efficacy or avayl at all as being indeed but false and Counterfeit and such as consequently is unaccepted of God The Prophet Esay has given us an item to this purpose in Esay 32.17.81 The work of Righteousness shall be peace and the Effect of Righteousness Quietness and assurance for ever And my People shall dwell in a peaceable Habitation and in sure Dwellings and in quiet resting Places See here the work of Righteousness is peace So 2 Chro. 7.14 If my People shall humble themselves and Pray c. And turn from their Evil ways then will I be Merciful to their Iniquities and heal their Land Mark turn from their Evil ways Thirdly Intercession and Supplication and Prayer we should all here improve that interest which we have in God to this purpose That he would be pleased not onely to be reconciled to our own Persons in particular but also to the whole Land in General whereunto we belong Pray for the peace of Jerusalem as the Prophet David calls upon us to do and for the peace of it in the first place with Heaven that the Lord himself may have no Controversie against it ye which are the Lords Remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest till he has broken down the Partition-wall and reconciled himself to us Certainly this is such a Business as may well deserve our greatest Importunity and wrastling with God that may be And that 's the Second use of this point seeing when he gives Quietness c. Therefore to teach us all to be diligent in the use of all those means whereby God may be reconciled with the Land and kingdom wherein we live Thirdly This gives us an account of the present Evils and troubles which are amongst us from whence they proceed namely from hence that God himself is angry with us and hath hidden his face from us we are subject to fasten our Eyes onely upon Second and External Causes to say t is this thing and t is that thing and to think of any thing rather then of that which we should be most sensible off but this is the true ground and reason of all because the Lord himself is at variance and at difference with us as 't is exprest concerning Israel in Deut. 32.30 How should one chase a Thousand and two put ten Thousand to flight except their Rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up And so Esay 42.24.25 Who gave Jacob for a spoyl and Israel to the Robbers Did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned for they would not walk in his ways neither were they obedient unto his Law Therefore he hath powred upon them the fury of his anger and the strength of Battel and it hath set him on fire round about c. Let us therefore here be advised of the true cause of so many troubles amongst us A Disease when it is found out in the cause of it it is half cured And so here this is the way to make us look after God and to put in practise that former Duty which I urged of seeking peace with him when we shall consider that all the Evil which is upon us it does arise from his difference with us as indeed it does It 's true he makes use of Instruments but these Instruments they are carryed on by his Providence and he has the ordering and regulating of them It is because God is angry with us that he suffers so many Divisions amongst us and that he permits us to sheath our Swords in the Bowels one of another as we do now in this Land and Kingdom And therefore let us still carry it as high as this and take notice of the true ground and Original of all Fourthly It carryes a word of Comfort in respect of our present Condition and the Calamities which are now upon us as it signifies thus much unto us that they are disposed off by an higher hand then the hand of our Enemies and so consequently that it is not in their Power to continue them to us There are no doubt dayly Plots and Conspiracies by those which are ill-wishers to Sion for the Continuing and advancing those Broyles and Differences which are amongst us and for the hindering of all means which may tend to peace and accommodation of things to us but here 's now the Comfort of all that these things are not in their Power but are over-ruled by God himself When he gives Quietness who then can make Trouble If the Lord notwithstanding all this will but speak a word of Peace to his People all Counsel and desirs to the contrary shall be sure to come to nought you know how it was with our Saviour sayling in the Ship with his Disciples when there was a great Tempest arose in the Sea insomuch that the Ship which they were in was almost ready to be sunk and cast away As soon as ever he once arose and rebuked the Winds and the Sea it is said there was a great Calm Matth. 8.26 Mark there was not onely a stilling of the Tempest that the Winds and Sea and Waves were not so Violent and Boisterous as they were before but on the otherside there was a great Calm a quite opposit and contrary Condition Thus did Christ in those Tempests of Water and how
or wearying out of him that he should give over Hee 'l make us weary of sinning before we shall make him weary of punishing Secondly Another occasion of escape in a multitude of delinquents amongst men is their exceeding great power and strength that they prove to hard for them which should judge them and call them to an account But this will not serve the turn against God when he shall come to punish them When the Lord shall stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is holpen shall fall down and they shall all fail together as it is Isa 31.3 Thus much as it is terrible to wicked men Secondly This makes also very much for the comfort of the people of God in regard of their conflict which they sustain with great and potent Enemies and the multitudes of them They are such as prove oftentimes too hard and strong for them as the sons of Zerviah did for David but the Lord can tame them well enough whether a Nation or a man onely there 's no rescue out of his hands that he should not destroy them This was that whereby the Prophet Elisha comforted his servant in 2 King 6.16 Fear not says he for they that be with us are more than they that be with them And so Hezekiah to his Captains of war in 2 Chron. 32.7 Be strong and couragious be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him for there be more with us then with him with him is an arm of flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battels The Lord will one day tread all our enemies under our feet Again Further whether it be done against a Nation or against a man onely we learn another observation from this conjunction and that 's this That the sins of one Particular Person as well as of an whole Nation may provoke the Lord to the execution of judgement and punishment upon such and such places Elihu is here indifferent in his expressions whether one or to'ther That 's a true word of the Preacher That one sinner destroyes much good Eccles 9. ult Thus we see how the sin of one Achan put an whole army of Israelites to flight Josh 7.12 Thus we see how the sin of one Saul was an occasion of three years famine in the land 2 Sam. 21.1 Thus we see how the sin of one David caused a Pestilence from Dan to Beersheba 2 Sam. 24.15 Thus as he said Delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi The ground of this point is taken from the filthy nature of sin it self and the odiousness therein which is so hateful and detestable to God that it makes him afflict those occasionally for it which were not immediately active in it Thus he has threatned to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth Generation Look as we see amongst men the whole stock and family is tainted for the treason of one member of it even so also in the dealings of God some whole Land and Nation may be defiled and involved for the sin of one man in it Secondly Because it is hard and rare for one notorious sinner to be in a Kingdom but the whole Kingdom more or less does partake of his guilt and wickedness in some one kind or other And a participation in sinning calls for a participation in punishing Hence may God easily be provoked and in good justice proceed to scourging of a Nation with a particular reference to a man onely This serve 's first of all to excite us to search and examine our selves now that Gods judgements are abroad in the land to see whether we or no for our particulars may not be the causes of them or if not of the first inflicting them yet at least of the further continuance of them and in that height that they are now upon us we are all ready in such cases to reflect upon the general Abominations and the Miscarriages of the Land in gross or it may be of such publique States and Conditions belonging to the Lands as the Magistrates and the Ministers and the like but we are here now call'd to search and inquire into our private and personal Faylings whether there may not be somewhat arising from them Secondly We see here what cause there is when God's Judgments are at any time upon a Kingdom that those which have the Government of it should proceed to the Execution of Justice upon notorious Offenders Forasmuch as but one of these for ought any one can say to the Contrary might be an occasion of wrath upon the Land and so accordingly the punishing of such an one might divert Wrath from it we see a plain and notable instance of this in the example of Phineas of whom it is said That when he stood up and Executed Judgment the Plague stayed Psal 106.30 Thirdly By the Rule of Contraryes as the Sin of one man may bring Judgment so the Righteousness of one man also may remove it and therefore we should all be here incouraged for the rectifying and reforming of our own wayes let the Nation do what it will There is a notable and excellent place to this purpose in this Book of Job Chap. 22. vers 29.30 Speaks there to a Godly man and one that delights himself in the Almighty When men are cast down then thou shalt say there is lifting up and he shall save the humble Person He shall deliver the Hand of the Innocent and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands So go through Jerusalem and find me a man that executeth Judgment c. Jerem. 5.1 And so much of these words also in their Connexion there remains to speak of them in their Second reference distinctly Trouble and Peace as it relates to a Private person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XIII Job 34.29 And when he hideth his face who then can behold him whether it be against a Nation or against a man onely This Scripture which I have here again read unto you it carryes a verygood complyance and Correspondency with the present times and seasons which are now fallen upon us for which cause I have the rather chosen it at this time to be handled by us It makes mention of those two things which take up the greatest part of our thoughts Trouble and Quietness The one is in our thoughts to Bewayl it and the other is in our thoughts to desire it The one we have in our Experience and the other in our Expectation and both we have also here Exhibited in that reference in which our selves look up it to wit in Generall to an whole Kingdom and in Particular to every Person to a Nation and to a man onely And this double reference of it does serve to make up unto us the two particulars of the Text. In the Morning we spake to the former where we
to disquiet where mens Hearts and Consciences shall tell them that they have been wanting and failing in those performances which the Lord has expected from them this will go near to sadden and trouble them and deprive them of that inward comfort which they should otherwise have Especially if we shall add hereunto where these have been the motions and suggestions of Gods Spirit inclining and provoking thereunto then the neglect is so much the greater and consequently the disquietness will be the more It 's bad enough for us to Sin against a bare command and to neglect our Duty there where God has given us a General rule for the performance of it but now further to sin against an Excitement and Motion and invitation of Gods Spirit this has a further aggravation in it Fourthly For the getting and preserving of this peace whereof we speak there must be a daily and continual renewing of our Covenant made with God Often reckoning we use to say makes long Friends and so certainly t is here in this particular The way to keep up our peace with God is frequently to make up the Breaches and divisions which may fall between us by speedy Humiliation and Repentance and turning to Him We should not let the Sun to go down upon any difference betwixt God and us but out of hand close it up and that as soon as we discern it and apprehend it and are made sensible of it Take heed that the Heart do not ranckle or fester under the guilt of any Sin or neglect which at any time may lie upon it These and the like Courses are to be taken for the procuring and preserving of a Quietness and Peaceableness in us and we shall put these Directions in Practise that we may procure and preserve it so indeed It is a pictiful thing to consider what strangers many people are to this Business we speak off how few there are which know what belongs to true Peace such a peace as is of Gods giving which passes all understanding which the World is not able to give and which will afford a man comfort which all the world cannot take away The most sort of persons that are regard it not attend it not consider it not we are all for an outward peace and I do not speak against it I would we had it upon good Conditions but who is there almost that looks after inward peace and Tranquillity of Conscience which consists in forgiveness of Sin Reconciliation with God and the assurance of his love and favour made over and confirm'd to the Soul Alas these are things which people may talk off and these are things which people may hear off but most people know not what they mean nor what belongs unto them And this may be the first Application Secondly Seeing this is so That no condition shall be troublesome to that person which is in favour and peace with God We see then here Beloved the happy estate of the children of God in the midst of all those outward prejudices and disparagements which they lye under Happy are the People which are in such a case yea happy are the people whose God is the Lord. We see here who are in the best condition in these sad and distracting times It is not those which have the greatest abundance of these outward comforts and injoyments but which have most of this inward peace It is not he which hath the most Wealth but he that hath the most Grace He is the freest from trouble who has the greatest quietness given him from God even there where he has least from men our happiness it is not so much from without us If we have calm and quiet spirits we may make a shift to do well enough even in troubled and perplext estates And this is the blessed condition of the children of God which should make us so much the more in love with the Generation of Gods people and with Godliness and Religion Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her pathes are peace as it is said of spiritual wisdom Prov. 3.17 Beloved there is not that esteem of Religion and the estate of a Christian as indeed it is fitting there should be Men do not apprehend or consider what a noble Condition it is nor improve it to that height of Comfort and Contentation as it were possible for them and that 's the reason that there are so low thoughts many times of those which are the professors and true imbracers of it whereas indeed upon the proof and experiment there is nothing of so comfortable a Consideration as this is not onely in reference to Heaven and the Comforts of a better life but also in reference to the World and our being and abode here in our Pilgrimage upon Earth Godliness it has not onely the comforts of the End but likewise of the Way It has it's reward and Happiness in it so far forth as it carryes us on with comfort through all the troubles of this present Life When he gives Quietness who then can make Trouble We may understand it by taking trouble in a temporal signification When the Lord gives inward Quietness a man shall suffer no great inconvenience from outward trouble No condition in regard of the world shall come amiss unto him And that 's the First Explication Secondly We may also take it thus When he gives Quietness none then can make trouble That is Where God gives Spiritual peace and Tranquillity of Conscience none shall then be able to cause any disturbance or perplexity in it none can possibly take away the peace of that Soul which is at peace with God This we have plainly signified to us in Rom. 8.33.34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even c. This we may see made good in all the several particulars which we may conceive as any way capable to cause disturbance First Not Satan He shall not be able to make trouble where God will give peace Satan is a mighty stickler to disturb the peace of Gods people and to weaken their confidence and assurance of his love and he takes all advantages and opportunities that may be to this purpose especially in the hour of Death and the day of Tryal c. A foul pudder he makes oftentimes in this regard but yet where God will acquit and give quietness all is in vain Christ has spoyled Principalities and Powers Colos 2.15 And he has destroyed the Devil himself Heb. 2.14.15 The Accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before our God Day and Night and they have overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 12.10.11 The blood of Christ sprinkled upon the Conscience discharges from the accusations of Satan neither is he able to do any hurt where the Lord will obsolve As for
not our God we have then a great deal too little what ever we have besides And if God be our God we have then more then enough even when we want every thing else This is the utmost bounds and perfection of all happiness whatsoever For God to be our God it is to be all things whatsoever we want or desire to injoy Grace and Glory both as it is exprest Psal 84.11 A son and shield all things requisite and convenient whether for this or a better life not onely the blessings of the womb and the blessings of the breast but which is also further added as the accomplishment of the blessings of Joseph The Blessings of heaven above and the blessings of the deep that lye under This is to be our God But how did David know that God was his God that he should here thus claim interest in him Surely he had some ground to say so or else he would have said â—t and such as we also must have if we say with any comfort There are many which scrape acquaintance with God which yet he will never own at another day Not every one that said Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven nor every one that saith My God had God for their God indeed No there 's somewhat more belongs to it than meerly so David said God was his God because he found himself to be his servant Beloved if God be our God then certainly we are his people that 's out of all controversie To be our God is a word of relation and implyes as somewhat on Gods part so likewise somewhat on ours That namely we have given up our selves to His holy Guidance and Government to be ruled and ordered by him in all whatsover we do Those whom God is a God to he hath put his Spirit into them and transforming them and chang'd them into a likeness to his Divine Nature And by this may we now discover whether it be so indeed with our selves yea or no. Have we taken Christ upon those terms and conditions as he is propounded in the Gospel not onely to be a Saviour to save us but also to be a Lord to rule us Have we done so indeed and in good earnest and do we find such principles in us as do sute hereunto Do we love God Do we delight in God Do we fear God Do we stand in awe of him and hate every thing which stands in opposition and contrariety to him Do we love the Cause of God Do we love the word of God Do we love the people of God Every thing that savors of Him Every thing that has interest in Him Every thing that has Relation to Him And that purely for Himself Eo nomine and in that consideration These things would be sought and inquired into for the satisfaction of our selves in this particular that God is our God indeed Which as t is the greatest Happiness to be right in so t is the greatest Misery that can be to mistake I am sorry I have not time to prosecute this argument so as I could wish which requires as much time to handle and to give the full explication of it as the extent of the benefit it self which is to all Eternity So much briefly of the first thing as carryes in it an Implication of Interest Thou art my God i. e. There is a Covenant betwixt us Secondly It carryes in it also an Implication of Activity Thou art my God That is thou art one who art Active for me For God to be our God is not a meer Title and Relation but withall a matter of Improvement And this is that which David likewise here implies in this Expression Thou hast showen thy self as a God unto me in all thy dealings and carriages towards me Those whom God is a God to he does Improve Himself to the utmost to them in all things which they stand in need of from Him I shall but name some particulars unto you As First My God to preserve me and defend me and keep me from Evil. This carryes a reference to what he had said before in the former Clauses concerning Gods Providence over him in regard of Birth and Sustentation Those whom God is a God too he does undertake so far forth to preserve them as may be good and convenient for them they had the benefit of his Power and strength And this had David experience of for his particular in sundry examples God had kept him from the Bear and from the Lyon and from the Philistins and from the hands of Saul c. Secondly My God to Direct me and Counsel me in cases of Uncertainty When I know not what to do nor whether to betake my self for Succor then art thou near me to advise me and to teach me what I shall do Thirdly My God to assist me and strengthen me in matter of Duty and Performance By thee I have run'd through a Troup and by my God I have leaped over a Wall Psal 18.29 Those whom God is a God too they partake of his inabling Grace which is more or less Auxiliary to them Lastly My God to fill me with a greater measure and degree of Grace and Holiness here and who will likewise bestow upon me Glory and full Happiness hereafter In all these particulars have those to which God is a God too and in Covenant with them the improvement of his Deity for them And thus much of the Blessing it self which he here mentions Thou art my God Now the Second so the last thing That 's the extent of this Blessing From my Mothers Belly Where by the way This phrase from my Mothers Belly it is not here to be taken Causative but Terminative It does not denote unto us the Conveyance of Sanctification and the Covenant of Free-Grace but rather the first moment and beginning of it Every man by Nature is in a state of Contrariety and Alienation We are Strangers to God from the Womb yea Enemies against him And so he cannot be said to be our God from our Mothers Belly in this respect Our Mothers Belly is the place rather wherein God and we first fall out and differ from one another This is the Sum of all That Parents they convey Sin but they do not convey Grace Religion it goes not by Birth and carnal Propagation Christiani non noscuntur sed fiunt We are not born Christians but made so and that by a Supernatural work of the Spirit of God upon our Hearts Therefore those words are not to be taken in this Explication as denoting the Cause from whence David was a Child of God but rather as denoting the time and season from whence God was his God and so the further duration and continuance of it all along from that time to this present moment wherein he wrote And so he does in this Expression bless God for two things at once First For being his God so Early And Secondly For being
his God so long both are implyed in this Thou art my God from my Mothers Belly First He here blesses God for being his God so Early My God from my Mothers Belly That is as soon as I had any being in the World He might have if he had pleased fetch 't it higher if we speak of Gods Decree in Election and have said from the beginning of the World Yea before the Foundations of the World were ever laid As Psal 90.2 But he speaks here rather of the Execution and Manifestation of this his Decree God is then our God properly when he manifests Himself to be our God by some special work of Grace in our Souls and by giving Himself unto us And so he is pleased to do to divers in the very first dawnings of nature in them The Prophet Jeremiah he was Sanctifyed in the womb Jer. 1.5 Before I formed thee in thee Belly I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the Womb I Sanctifyed thee and I ordained thee a Prophet unto the Nations And so likewise John the Baptist he had the same Grace and Favour also Timothy It is said that from a Child he had known the Holy Scriptures which were able to make him wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 And Obadiah 1 Kings 18.12 I thy Servant do fear the Lord from my Youth This is the goodness of God to many persons to be early in his beginning of Grace which he works in them Thus there can be no other ground or reason assigned of it but onely his own free-Grace and good Pleasure and will towards them who as he is free in the thing it self so also in the time of Dispensation And there is a double use which we may make of this Observation First To inform and satisfy us as concerning the time of Conversion and beginning of the work of Grace which is a Question which does many times trouble and perplex many a Soul to know the distinct reason when God first brought him home to Himself For this It is not in all kind of Persons discernable by them Eccl. 11.5 As thou knowest not which is the way of the Spirit nor how the bones do grow in the Womb of her that is with Child so thou knowest not the work of God who maketh all Indeed for those who have a great part of their time lived profanely or a meer civil life in them because the change is more Eminent the time is more Conspicuous too but for those whom it hath pleased God to Sanctify in their Infancy and tender years and to carry them on sweetly imperceptibly in the tract of a godly and Religious Education all their Life in these it is not so easily distinguished neither should it trouble them when it is not If the time be up it is no matter when it is first begun It is not the change of a mans Course but the change of his Nature which is here required And that is done in those to whom God is a God from the womb Their Nature is changed in them though their Course it may be has been the same all their days to wit godly and Religious nay it is so far from being a Cause of trouble as that indeed it is rather an argument of greater comfort to them that God has loved them so soon Secondly Another use is Ingagement to all such in a special manner to love God so much the more And so much for that He blesses God for being his God so Early Secondly He Blesses God for being his God so long This is also implyed in this Expression Thou art my God from c. That is thou art my God still from whence we may note thus much That those whom God is a God too once he is a God too them always Those whom he takes into his Care and Tuition and Custody at first those he also preserves to the End There is no time wherein he Ceases to be a God unto them And therefore t is here without any sign of time Eliattah Thou my God that hast been and art and wilt be through all Generations This God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 So Psal 71.6 By thee have I been holden up from the Womb c. The Ground of this in God is First His Vnchangeable Nature who is Yesterday and to Day and the same for ever If God were Alterable and subject to Varying he should then love us one Day and hate us the next to it For I am the Lord I change not Therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed Secondly His Free-Grace who shews Mercy where he will If Gods Goodness were founded in us then he should Change and Vary as we do but this it is not There is nothing moves Him to be our God but onely because he will be so Thirdly His Exactness in all he does who loves to finish there where he has begun Ye know how it is with Exact men when they have begun a thing they love to perfect it and so here This should stir us up to the Observation and Acknowledgment of Gods goodness in this particular He has the perfection of all Love in him for he begins betimes and he Continues long and what could we desire more There are many which are good friends at last but they are a great while a comming on and before they can be perswaded to it There are others which are good for a while but they quickly give over But now the Lord he fails us in neither He is our God from our Mothers Womb. Even all our following and succeeding days And this it should teach us proportionably in the Second place to keep close to Him and as he continues constant to us so for us also to persevere to Him and to walk in the Constant ways of thankfulness and Obedience to Him And thus have I after somewhat long Travel brought this Child with Gods gracious Assistance at length to the Birth And have shown you here the several particulars in which David tenders his Acknowledgment and Sacrifice of Thansgiving to God For the Blessings of the Womb for the Blessing of the Breast for the Blessing of the Cradle and for the Blessings of the Covenant That is for common Mercies for ancient Mercies and for primitive Mercies and for constant Mercies Consider what I have said And the Lord give you understanding in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XVI Psal 10.13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He hath said in his heart thou wilt not require it Their cannot be a better Evidence of a Good and a Gracious heart then to be tender and sensible of Gods Dishonour and having first of all sufficiently bewayled its own Distempers and Infirmities to lay to heart the Enormities and Miscarriages of other men Like Righteous Lot whose Soul was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked while he dwelt amongst them seeing and hearing their unlawful deeds as the
no God will do it and surely he will do it this that in it But what will he do He will wound the head of his Enemiss what 's that why not onely his Enemies in the Head as we have hitherto handled it but likewise as we may further Explain it The principal of them He will wound the head of his Enemies that is he will wound the chief of his Enemies that 's another Explication which we may very well fasten hereupon according to that also in another place Psal 110 6. He shall wound the Heads ever many Countryes And Hab. 3.13 Thou woundest the Head This may be reduced to three Heads especially First To Satan Secondly To Antichrist Thirdly To all other potent Enemies whatsoever First Satan God will wound his Head it is the course which is threatned upon Him from the very beginning Gen. 3.15 Semu mulieris conterit caput Serpentis The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head That is Christ shall break the head of the Devil This was promised to our first Parents in Paradise and it is that which we shall find to be made good to our selves So Rom. 16.20 The God of Peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly And Luke 10.18 I beheld Satan like Lighting fall from Heaven This is that which the Scripture sayes of Him Secondly Antichrist It says as much of him also in 2 Thes 2.3 The man of Sin is there Emphatically called the Son of Perdition And expresly vers 8. Whom the Lord shall Consume with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his Comming Thirdly All other Potent Enemies whatsoever The Rulers Princes and Governous of the World Thus again Psal 110.5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath So Psal 2.2.3.4 And here in this present Psalm vers 11.12 The Lord gave the word great was the Company of those that published it Kings of the Army did flee apace and She that tarried at home divided the spoyl The use of all this is Comfort to the Church of God that we being delivered from all our Enemies c. So much for that Exposition and so also for the whole Text. But God shall c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XVIII Psal 75.8 For the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them This Text which I have now read unto you is a very terrible Text which Carries a great deal of Terrour and affrightment and Consternation with it even in the very first Proposal of it but yet Couch'd and vayled under such terms and Expressions and Metaphors and allusive Resemblances as doe allay and Mollify it to us It is in one word an Account of the Severity of Gods Dispensations in the Dispising of these inferiour matters and affairs here below The Psalmist had in the verse before told us of Gods absolute Power and Soveraignty in the Ruling and Governing of the World that he is the Judg of all who Changes the Hours and Seasons as Daniel speaks Dan. 2.21 And takes upon him to remove and settle as he pleases he putteth down one and setteth up another in the 7th vers of this Psalm Now here in the Text he does amplify and prosecute this Argument which he had mentioned and propounded by taking men off from opposing or contradicting that truth which he had there promised from the Consideration of the danger which is consequent and insuing thereupon For in the hand c. IN this present Verse before us to give the full view of it we have a lively description and amplification of the Judgements of God upon the world which are here set forth unto us under a threefold representation of them First In their preparation Secondly In their Execution And Thirdly in their Participation The Preparation of them that we have in those words In the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red c. The Execution of them that we have in those words He poureth out of the same The Participation of them that is in these words But the draggs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them We begin in order with the first viz. The Preparation of these Judgements For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture Wherein again we may take notice of three particulars more First The Vessel and that is a cup. Secondly The liquor and that is red wine full of mixture Thirdly The Preparer and Orderer and Disposer and Qualifier of it and that is God himself This cup of red wine and full of mixture it is in the hand of the Lord. First I say Here 's the vessel and that is a cup. This is one thing whereby the Judgements of God in Scripture both here and in other places are described and represented unto us It is Calix es poculum Indignationis Isa 51.17 The cup of fury And ver 28. The cup of trembling and Ezek. 23.33 The cup of astonishment and many such expressions as these are This it is among other reasons especially for this as hereby signifying the collection and gathering together of his punishments all in one that as in a cup you have the liquor united and incompast in such a space so is it likewise with the Judgements of God they are a great while gathering together and then they serve to make up a cup from the fullness and completeness of them God distributes these his sorrows not by drops only but cups To speak more distinctly of it and to open this Metaphor so much the better unto us By this Cup or Vessel of reception we may understand whatsoever it is which is the means and conveyance and derivation of any evil unto us For as there are divers evils and calamities in the world which our natures are subject unto so there are accordingly divers conveyances and transmissions of these evils to our hands since they come to us in one way and some they come to us in another and they are but the expression as we see it was with holy Job There were the Sabeans and the Chaldeans and the Fire and the wind from the wilderness All these were so many cups wherein the Lord gave him to drink of the waters of bitterness affliction And so he does with many others He hath his several conveyances to his purpose some he afflicts in their bodies and some in their spirits and some in estates and some in their relations All of them are but cups of displeasure and that they are They doe serve for this end and intent to be the means and instruments of their afflictions Indeed t is true these cups are of different sizes and capacities as I may so
express it some their measure is larger and some their measure is smaller yet Cups they are notwithstanding and so God makes them to be both to his Servants and other People The use which we are to make of it is accordingly thus to look upon it we should observe and take notice of the Providence of God in this particular and be answerably affected therewith we should take heed of provoking the Lord by any Sin or Miscarriage whatsoever as knowing that in so doing we do but prepare as it were a Cup for our selves and treasure up wrath as the Apostle speaks against the day of Wrath. in Rom. 2.5 And let us not give our selves Liberty in any unwarrantable course or take Courage to our selves in sinning from any present impunity or forbearance because all this while the Cup is as it were but a filling and making up There is a Cup in framing and fashioning though it be not already brought out When we speak of a cup we know it has commonly a two-fold notion in it either a Good or a bad There 's a Cup of Physick a Medicinal Cup and theirs a Cup of Poyson a destructive Cup. Now in the hand of the Lord there is a Cup to either of these purposes and that also as to the same ingredients God makes the same providences to be a Cup of Physick to his children for the healing and recovering of them of their spiritual infirmities and a Cup of Poyson to his enmies for the killing and destroying of them in the midst of their sins And according to either of these senses may we take it here in this place That 's the first particular considerable in this Metaphorical Description namely the Vessel of Reception It is a Cup. The second Particular is the liquor which is contained in it This Cup it is not an Empty Cup a Cup of State and onely for fashion and no more but so a meer standing Cup but it is a Cup of Infusion and what it is we have here exprest unto us in two particulars First In the simple nature of it The wine is red And secondly in the Composition of it It is full of mixture These two branches make up the fillings and ingredients of it First The wine is red or troubled as some translate it Chamar There 's the kind or nature of this wine and hereunto do agree all those phrases and expressions of Scripture which we mentioned before of fury and trembling and astonishment and such as these whereby we are to understand the grievousness of the Judgement it self Red wine in Scripture is sometimes used in a way of commendation as Isa 27.2 Speaking of the Church of God In that day sing ye unto her a vineyard of red wine Here 't is used in a way of disparagement and aggravation of the Judgements of God as carrying a great deal of sadness and terribleness in them and all little enough to make us to tremble at them at least afore-hand before they fall upon our heads This is the usual manner of Scripture to lay forth such things as these are under the greatest affrightings as Joel 2.2 Speaking of the day of the Lord. A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness c. And so Amos 5.18 The day of the Lord is darkness and not light And again Zeph. 1.15 That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wastness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness Still in terms expressions of astonishment thereby to sink so much the more into the minds and hearts of those whom they are uttered unto Here for the particular notion of it it is call'd red wine as the embleme of a bloody destruction which is very fitly resembled by it there being nothing more like to blood then such wine as this is It is like it for the substance of it as it is Wine and it is like it for the colour of it as it is red wine The Analogy and proportion holds very well in either of these considerations in which it is here exhibited unto us This then is that which is here intimated that there is a Cup of Blood which is prepared for the inhabitants of the world as an expression of Gods Vengeance upon them This is the Red wine here in the Text and it is that which is often mentioned elsewhere in holy Scripture as Deut. 32.42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood So Isa 34.5 6. The sword of the Lord is bathed in heaven and filled with blood And again in ver 7. Their land shall be soaked with blood and many such places as these are still there 's made mention of blood If we should ask why it pleases God to take such a course as this is The answer is easie and obvious that the remedy may be sutable to the disease and the punishment to the sin Sanguinem sitisti Sanguinem vitis as he once said Thou hast thirsted after blood and blood thou shalt drink Because men delight in blood therefore blood shall be poured out unto them yea their own blood shall be poured out This is the way of Gods Providence and the manner of his dealings in the world which because it is fill'd with cruelty shall be therefore fill'd with blood And so as for cruelty so for luxury and intemperance and drunkenness such sins as these The punishment holds good in the Analogy and Metaphor and resemblance it self Those that look upon the wine while it is red and whiles it gives its colour in the cup as Solomon speaks Those that tarry long at the wine and go to seek for mixt wine as it is in the same place Prov. 23.30 31. Such as these they shall have a cup of red wine prepared for them and such as is full of mixture as it is here in the Text. Here 's by the way a good item for drunkards and such brutish and beastly kind of persons as these are And thus much of this liquor consider'd in the simple nature of it The wine is red We may further here look upon it secondly in the its Composition It is full of mixture This is an amplification of the former and which adds somewhat unto it but yet such as we find in Scripture to be a different and contrary sense and signification for sometimes it is taken in a good sense and in a way of Mollification Sometimes again in a bad and in a way of aggravation First I say in a mitigated and good sense this phrase of a Cup full of mixture is now and then taken so as making it a kind of Qualification and Diminution of the Punishment and therefore the contrary is threatned for a Judgment Revel 14.10 The Wrath of God powred out without mixture But here now Secondly It is taken in a bad sense where the aggravation is made to be this that it
Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Jesus spake unto him have I been so long time and yet hast thou not know me Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then shew us the Father And Apostle Paul in the 2 Cor. 4.6 God who Commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give the light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Secondly To seek the face of God is to seek the presence of God this follows upon the former as when we know a man we desire to have his Company if he be such an one as we approve off and may be useful to us even so it is here Besides Gods Common and General Presence which extends to all sorts of Persons there 's a special and Gracious presence which is peculiar to his People and is accordingly sought after by them which is here called his face This is desireable of us in reference to two things especially The Creatures and the Ordinances First To seek the presence of Christ in the Creatures and the Comforts which are conveyed by them without which they are not truly Comfortable It is not the things themselves which we partake off that are able to chear and refresh us unless it pleases God Himself to appear in them and with them It is his presence which is the Happiness and Blessedness of every Condition and that puts a liveliness and chearfulness into every Comfort It is the Face of God that puts a Comfortableness into the face of Friends the face of Friends is very pleasing and Delightful one to another as Iron sharpens Iron as Solomon tells us but it is Gods face that makes it to be so as joyning with them and so it is as to any other Comfort or Refreshment besides Therefore seek his presence in the Creatures that 's the first Secondly Seek his face in the Ordinances and the Duties and Exercises of Religion This is that which we should cheifly look after we should not come to such matters as these are onely out of fashion and custom and formallity but to injoy communion with God in them thus David in Psal 63.1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is To see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary There are many that come to the Sanctuary and to the Publick Assemblies of Gods people but it is to seek for other faces it is not to seek for the face of God they come hither onely to stare and gaze and look about them to look upon this face and to look upon that to see and be seen This is an high profanation of the Ordinance of God and a perverting it from the proper end and intendment of it but we see here what is the main scope of every Gracious and Religious soul in such approaches as these are Thy face Lord will I seek that I may have sellowship and converse with thee in thine own ordinance as we have it expressely in the 4th ver of this present Psalm One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire into His Temple In the word in the Sacraments in all the Ordinances to have the presence of God that 's the second Explication to seek the face of God that is to seek the presence of God Thirdly To seek the face of God that is to seek the favour of God Men commonly shew their Affection in their Countenance and therefore the one is put for the other And so here thus Psal 24.6 This is the Generation of them that seek thee of them that seek thy face O God of Jacob so Psal 105.4 Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore And Psal 4.6 There be many that will say Who will shew us any good Lord lift up the light of thy Countenance upon us and Gods Gracious favour and countenance is that which it concerns us above all other things to seek after First That we may walk more serviceably and do that which God requires of us with greater intention It is the Masters countenance which puts a nimbleness into the servants work and makes it to come off the more freely and readily from him Assurance it hath a great influence upon obedience and in that respect to be pursued by us Secondly That we may walk more chearfully and have more peace and comfort in our selves Psal 30.5 In his favour is life yea his Loving-kindness is better then life as it is in Psal 63.3 Look as the face of the Sun puts a clearness and liveliness into every thing which before was dead and disconsolate so does the face and gracious presence of God into the hearts of his poor servants which were before as it were in a dead and a dark condition It quickens them and raises them and revives them and puts life into them This is that which makes an Heaven upon Earth as the contrary is no better then Hell That 's Hell where God withdraws his Gracious presence That 's Heaven where he is pleased to shew his face Thirdly That we may walk more Profitably and beneficially towards others the more that we are sensible of Gods Favour to our slves the better shall we be able to comfort and chear up our Brethren and to comfort them with the Comfors wherewith we are comforted of God Therefore above all things we should pursue it and seek after it we see how desirous men are usually of the favour of great ones many seek the Rulers favour or the face of the Ruler as the words run in the Text Pene mashal But every mans Judgment cometh from the Lord Prov. 29.6 And therefore there is reason to seek his favour above any one else Therefore says St. Paul do we labour or are ambitious to be accepted of Him Because we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ We should seek for Gods favour now that we may injoy it hereafter when we shall most stand in need of it Thi is that which concludes and comprehends every thing in it It is the most compendious way to Happiness that is in the Word our usual manner and practise is to pitch upon some particular comfort which we have a mind unto as Riches or Health or Peace or some such things as those let us but seek the Favour of God and we shall have all these things in it to the bargain And that 's the Third Explication to seek his face i. e. to seek his favour Fourthly and Lastly To seek the face of God that is to pray and call upon Him If we look into Scripture we shall finde how the work
Condition of all created Comforts whatsoever But now the Lord God he is like the Sun which has light in Great Abundance and what it has it has onely in it self And this now makes very much for our Satisfaction and Contentment in Him yea and that in opposition also to the Creatures and that Comfort and Happiness which we expect from him when the Sun is once up there is no want or miss of the Stars and so where God will please to inlarge himself to the Soul of any poor Christian he has Enough and sufficency in that respect We know what is said of Heaven Revelat. 21.23 The City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof The same is true in a proportion even here in this present life according to Gods Gracious Importment of himself to any soul so is it better able to sustain under the want of other things But Secondly Seeing the Lord God is a Sun we should then hence learn to rejoyce in that light and Comfort which he does impart and which we receive from him We should still desire that the light of his Countenance may shine upon us more and more and nothing should be more greivous to us then the with drawing of this from us When the Sun is at any time darkned it causes sadness in the minds of men we see what a stir people make but about a common and ordinary Eclipse of the Sun in the Firmanent which is natural and certain and necessary and such as is Expected What Fancies possesses the minds of ignorant and simple persons in that regard and what sad and dismal Events they do project to themselves hereupon Oh but what is it then to have an Eclipse of this Sun in the Text which is here commended unto us for God Himself to hide his face from us and to carry himself strangely towards us and to desert us and leave us to our selves to cast us into dark Conditions of doubting and fear and distrustfulness and Horrour of Spirit this is that which is most sad and grievous of any thing else and so should be accounted by us especially those which has had any glimps and expressions of this his favour manifested unto them the more brightly that this Sun hath shown into any ones Heart the more does it concern them to be affected with the withdrawings of it and that as now the half of the Saints and Servants of God they know what belongs to such things as these are and understand what they mean These which are in their natural Condition which live in a state of continual Ignorance and Darkness they scoff and mock at such points as these are and think them to be altogether needless but those which are Savory Christians apprehend them and are sensible of them and lay them to Heart As an Eclipse it is a great deal more dreadful then an whole Night and yet a Night in it self considered simply is more then that It is more in regard of the darkness which is in a greater Degree and it is more in regard of the time which is of greater Continuance onely here 's the difference that an Eclipse we speak of the Sun it s always in the day which being a diversion from the common and ordinary course of it makes it so much the more to be observed even so it is here in this particular Take an Unregenerate Person with whom t is Night always and that knows no other Condition then that is this Sun it may be absent from him and he never regards it but now a Christian which is a Child of Light and a Child of the Day as the Apostle Paul expresses it We are not of the Light nor of Darkness 1 Thes 5.5 Such an one as this is to have the Sun though but for some time withdrawn from him it is very grievous and tedious to him Well we should all Labour and indeavour to have the fulness of this Metaphor made good and confirm'd unto us that God is a Sun that we may find him so for our own particulars and that influence which he has upon our Hearts as we shall have occasion to speak more anon and do nothing on our parts which may cause any Suspension or Intermission or Interruption of his favour and the sense of it to us We should be affraid not onely of an Eclipse of this Sun but also of any Cloudings of it by any Fogs or Mists or Damps which do at any time arise out of our Earthly and carnal Hearts we should study as near as may be that our Day it may be clear and bright and Sun-shine not onely to have some imperfect glimmerings and sparklings of Light to us but the Sun in its full strength and splender Our Graces glittering our Evidences sure our Consciences full of Comfort our Hearts in a full and constant apprehension of Gods love to us and inlarged in our love to him that so it may be with us which Solomon speaks of a Righteous person Prov. 4.18 The Path of the Just is as the shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day And that 's the first part of the Resemblance whereby God is set forth unto us The Lord God is a Sun The second Resemblance is of a shield that is of another thing whereby God does set forth himself unto us and we have it in other places of Scripture we have it once before in this Psal the 9th vers of it Behold our God our Shield It was that which God promised to Abraham and upon that account exprest Himself to Him Fear not Abraham I am thy sheild and thine Exceeding great reward Gen. 15.1 So Psal 115.9.10 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield And Prov. 30.5 Every word of God is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him Under which expression we have signified unto us Gods Protection and Preservation of his People from those dangers which they are subject unto he will not onely be a Sun unto them to fill them with all Comfort but will likewise be a shield unto them to keep them from all Evil this is that which he is here in the second place set forth by as remarkable in him The Lord God is a sheild Indeed other things in Scripture are sometimes styled by this Name and that also in a Metaphoricall Acception as Magistrates they are called sheilds Psal 47.9 Cypri terrae The sheilds of the Earth which are said there do belong to God Forasmuch as it is their Place and Office to preserve and protect the Innocent from any wrong or injury which may be offered them therefore they are called shields unto them so likewise Faith is called a shield Eph. 6.16 Above all taking the sheild of Faith But all this is still in reference to this shield
Contentment in it Oh how great is thy Goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal 31.19 The Lord is Good a strong hold in the day of Trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Nahum 1.7 It was a great Comfort to think of that because from a Good God nothing can come but good and that which is like to Himself And then the Wisdome of God to meditate on that also that he is great in Counsell c. and the Scripture proclaimes him that he can foresee all Events and discern all Hearts and search into the secret corners of the Soul That there is nothing hid from his Eyes c. That he confounds the wisdom of the Wise and brings to nothing the understanding of the Prudent as it is said of him This is that which affords matter of satisfaction to that Soul that does duly Contemplate it And so Lastly To add no more at this Time the Truth and Faithfulness of God the God that keeps Covenant and Mercy that is true to all his Promises and that performes what ever he undertakes It is very pleasing to think on this and thus is the Meditation of him sweet in reference to his Attributes which is the first Explication of it to us Secondly The word of God which is a part of Himself the Meditation on that is sweet also It is said of a Good man That his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate Day and Night namely for the delight of it Psal 1.2 So Psal 19.8.20 The Statues of the Lord are right rejoycing the Heart the Commandments of the Lord are pure inlightning the Eyes more are they to be desired then Gold yea then much fine Gold sweeter then Honey and the Honey-Comb How much sweetness is there wrapt up in a Promise and to be drawn out of it by a serious Meditation especially fitting to the present State and Condition which at any time we are in here it must needs be very sweet indeed and so it is and the Servants of God have found it so upon their own Experiene'd promises of Pardon of Assistance of Deliverance and such as these they are all of them very sweet If we look into Scripture we shall find variety of Gracious Intimations suted to particular Conditions now these they cannot but be very Comfortable to those that are in them in Sickness in Poverty in Captivity in Temptation and the like and we cannot better provide for our own Comfort and Contentation in them then by thinking and meditating upon them in our own minds and where we are not furnished with particulars yet at least to close with the Generals which have a miraculous sweetness in them also I mean such promises as are made to Gods Children at large that God will give his Spirit to them that ask it That no good thing will he withhold from tehm that walk uprightly that he will never leave them nor forsake them That all things shall work together for good to them that love him It is unexpressible how much sweetness there is in the Meditation upon these Truths which are Exhibited to us in Scripture being set home by the Spirit of God Himself which must be taken in as pertinent hereupon Thirdly The works of God the Meditation on them also it is very sweet and that in all kinds As First His works of Creation to consider of them as they are all very good and beautiful considered in their Nature and kind so is the Contemplation on them is also remarkable As Psal 8.1 c. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the Earth c. When I Consider thy Heavens the work of thy singers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained c. And so for this present Psalm which we have now before us the Hundred and fourth all throughout of it a meditation upon the works of Gods Creation which the Psalmist pleases Himself in and which he blesses God for So Secondly The works of Providence how sweet is it to meditate on these also to reflect upon all Ages and to consider what great things God has done for his Church and People in them What Mercies he has bestowed upon them what Deliverances he has wrought for them and that also sometimes after what a strange and miraculous manner It is very delightful to think of it This has satisfied and comforted Gods Servants when they have been in great Temptations and Trouble and perplexity of Spirit as for instance the Psalmist Himself Psal 77.7 Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Hath God forgotten to be Gracious c. And I said this is mine Infirmity well but what was that which holp him and relieved Him in it He adds presently hereupon I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy doings Meditation on the works of Gods Providence it was here sweet unto Him Thirdly The works of Redemption how sweet is it likewise to meditate on these To meditate upon God in Christ By whom he has reconciled himself to the world forgiving them their Trespasses as the Apostle Paul expresses it in the 2 Cor. 5.18 This is the sweet Meditation of all and without which we cannot meditate upon God without any true Comsort or Contentment The thoughts of God out of Christ they are not sweet but dreadfull and terrible Thy Heart shall meditate Terrour whosoever thou art that meditatest on him thus Deus Absolitus as Luther called it God considered absolutely and in Himself there 's no comming near him here so much as in our very thoughts and Meditations No but God manifested in the flesh taking our Nature upon him the Mediator God and Man together This is that which affords unto us the most Comfortable matter of Meditation Especially if we shall take him in his full Latitude and Extent and as he is of God made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption c. 1. Cor. 1. vers 30. Take Christ in all his Offices of King and Priest and Prophet and how sweet then is the Meditation of him Of a King to subdue our Enemies and to Govern and order our selves of a Priest to reconcile us to his Father and to make both Satisfaction and Intercession for us of a Prophet to reconcile unto us the whole will and mind of God all these are sweet things to think on And so as the Offices of Christ so his Graces which are likewise Emanations from Himself they are all very sweet and lovely there is not a work of the new Creature in us but it is very lovely and amiable in it self and the reflexion upon it also very delightful When a Christian by the help of the Spirit shall be
themselves yet they knew that He can help them and redress all unto them There is a change in the right hand of the most High And that again with a double Amplification and Inlargement of it to us as implyed in the right Hand First He can do it Effectually as the right Hand is an Expression of Ability And Secondly He can do it readily as the right Hand is an Expression of Slight First Powerfully and Effectually he can do it so we have great and Sundry Instances of it how God has delivered his People out of the sadest and most desperate Condition in which they have been and that by his great and Almighty Power He has raised from the Grave He has made the Dead bones to live he has turned the shadow of Death into the Morning as the Scripture Expresses it in Amos 5.8 There 's nothing which has been able to resist him or to stand in his way when he would work deliverance to his People Secondly Readily and Easily and Speedily he can do it so likewise That 's also signified in the right hand which is not onely in a word of Power but a word of Facility that which a man does with his right hand he does it promptly and with a great deal of Ease and therefore we call it Dexterity in our ordinary Language and Expressions Now thus is the Lord as to the Salvation of his Servants and to the relief and Comfort of them he is ready and dextrous at it and can do it with the turn of an hand so expert is he in it The right hand of the Lord can change this Namely the Infirmity of his Condition That 's the First Again Secondly For the Infirmity of his Spirit he can change that also David was now as we have heard under a great Temptation of mind and Spiritual Distemper which was upon Him which was grievous to him and whereof he here Complains now he herein Comforts Himself that God was able to take it away from him Who forgiveth all thy Sins and healeth all thy Diseases not onely Corporal but Spiritual Those Invincible Infirmities and Corruptions which the Servants of God are troubled withall and groan under while they are here in the world in this vayl of Flesh the right hand of God it can scatter them and remove them and take them away from them And it is a very great Comfort to them to think with themselves that it can so as it was here in the Text to the Psalmist in this present Distress and Perplexity and trouble in which he now was He does sustain Himself from Gods Power and the Consideration of what God would do The right hand of the Lord can change all this And that 's the first Reading of the words according to our oldest Translation Now further Secondly For this last here before us that 's this I will Remember the years of the right hand of the most High where the word remember is borrowed from the next-following verse to supply the sense of this as otherwise being not in the Text. Now here the Prophet David fetches a ground of Comfort from Gods Practise as before he did from his Power There from what God could doe Here from what he had done already in former Times and Ages and Generations He was resolved to reflect upon this as a relief to him in his present infirmity This is a very good and ready and expedient course to be taken by the Servants of God in any perplexity To look back upon Gods former dealings either with themselves or others of his people To remember the years of the c. That is to remember and bring to mind the great things which God has done for them in Generations which are past To consider the days of old the years of Ancient times as it is also in the fifth verse of this Psalm Now there were two things especially which David here did reflect upon to this purpose for the satisfying and quieting of his Spirit The one was Gods dealings with his people formerly as to point of seeming Desertion and outward Discouragement and the other was Gods dealings with his people formerly as to seasonable recovery and final acknowledgement To each of these purposes would he remember the years of the right hand of the most High and each of them were a relief unto them First It was a relief to his Spirit and a kind of healing of that present infirmity and distemper which was now upon him to consider how God had done with his people in former Times and Ages as to seeming Desertion This was some kind of help unto him that so he might see that he was no worse dealt with than the Saints of God in all seasons of the world That the same Afflictions were accomplish'd in them which were now in him when men think they are the onely persons that have such and such evils befall them it is a great discouragement to them but when they shall see that it is the common lot of others and has been Gods manner in all Ages this is now some ease to their minds Secondly It was a relief to him likewise to remember Gods dealings of old in regard of mercy That though he has afflicted his Servants for a while yet at last he has refreshed them and appeared graciously for them though he hath torn them yet he hath healed them though he has smitten them yet he has bound them up though he has slain them yet he has received them and raised them up and made them live in his sight Though he has for a time seemed to forsake them and reject them and to take no notice of them yet he has at last in Conclusion looked upon them and returned unto them It is a very great Comfort to consider Gods former dealings in such matters as these Christians they should live upon the Experience of Gods Goodness in days which are past when they have no sense of it for the time which is present And there is very good Ground to do so because God is still the same yesterday and to day and for ever He has the same Love to his people still as ever the same Wisdom to advise them and the same Power to be active for them and he will therefore change their Conditions because he does not change Himself as I intimated once before I the Lord change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not Consumed Malach. 3.6 And again It is of the Lords Mercy that we are not Consumed because his Compassions fail not Lam. 3.22 Therefore let us Comfort our selves and one another with such kind of thoughts and words as these are as the Psalmist does here before us Let us never question or doubt of Gods Affection or Faithfulness to his people but be fully perswaded of it and if our present Conditions incline to the discourageing of us let us look back upon Gods dealings which are past and remember the years of
Judgments are right and that in Faithfulness thou hast Afflicted me For indeed he does wonderfully moderate Himself in these his Corrections He punishes us less then our Iniquities deserves as Ezra makes Confession in Ezra 9.13 And although we do not always think so yet he always Corrects us in measure as himself declares unto us in Scripture thus in Esay 27.8 speaking concerning his Vineyard that is his Church In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it he stayeth his rough Winds in the day of his East-winds And Jer. 30.11 I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all Nations whether I have scattered thee yet I will not make a full end of thee but I will Correct thee in measure and will not altogether leave thee Vnpunished Mark how these two are very happily joyned together I will not altogether leave thee unpunished and yet I will correct the in measure God will not leave his people altogether unpunished that he may the better rule them and keep them in awe and yet he will punish them and correct in measure that so he may keep them from Discouragement and Dispondency and dejection of Spirit Therefore I say let us observe Gods dealings in this particular and acknowledg his goodness in them It should teach us to entertain good thoughts of God and to look for such dealings from him as for time past it should draw out our thankfulness and so for time present it should strengthen our Patience and so for time to come incourage our Faith and Hope and Expectation That he that hath delivered will deliver and though he may Chasten sore yet will still mitigate his Chastenings to us that they shall not altogether overwhelm us and swallow us up but that we shall finde relief in them Indeed we cannot always expect it in the letter of the Text as to an absolute Freedom from Dissolution for that must come and will come at last after all our preservations from it upon such and such particular occasions Recovery is at the best but a Repreive and so must be accounted by us and what ever Evils we do escape there 's no escape of this comming to Death but yet under this phrase here we have signified Gods General inclination for the mitigating of his Corrections to us And therefore Secondly it teaches us also Bowels and Compassions in our selves in imitation of this goodness of God There are some kind of people in the world whom nothing will serve their turn but absolute ruine and destruction Like those two fierce Disciples in the Gospel presently calling for fire from Heaven or like the children of Edom in the Psalm concerning Jerusalem Raze it raze it to the foundation down with it down with it to the ground yea but these are taught better here from the Example of God himself who does hold and restrain his hand in the chastisements and corrections of his people This is still his manner of dealings especially where there 's any hope of proficiency for time to come He will not there presently make an utter end but spare them in much mercy As in Isa 65.8 When the new wine is found in the cluster oh destroy it not for there 's a blessing in it so will I doe for my servants sake c. And so much may be spoken of these words consider'd in their connexion The first part of the verse with the second as qualifying of it Now Secondly let us look upon them in their absolute consideration the latter clause of the verse distinctly and alone by it self He hath not given me over unto death We see here how God does graciously preserve his servants from Death and destruction he keeps and maintains their lives This David often makes mention of in other places of the Psalms besides As Psal 30.3 Oh Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the Grave Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the Pit So Psal 116.8 Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling This the Lord is pleased to doe upon sundry considerations First out of his Goodness and Mercy and Love unto them thus David sets it forth in that place Psal 116.5 6. Gracious is the Lord and righteous yea our God is mercifull And what follows hereupon The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me So in verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints And Psal 72.14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight It is not an indifferent matter with God the death of his Servants neither does he lightly take away their lives but where there 's good cause and reason for it and in order to some greater good to them Secondly Because he hath work and service for them to do In death no man shall praise thee and who shall give thee thanks in the pit Psal 6.5 And Again Isa 38.18 19. The Grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee The living the living he shall praise thee As long as God has any work for any man to do so long he is sure to live and abide in the world Here 's a double goodness of God manifested to us First In designing us to service and the work it self And Secondly In preâ—erving our lives that so we may serve him and doe the work he has design'd us to This should so much the more incourage us in fruitfulness before him we cannot take a more expedient way to prolong our lives than by doing as much good as we can in them Useless and unprofitable persons which live idly and out of any imployment they doe but stand in the room of those which would do better then themselves and they provoke God oftentimes in Judgement to remove them and to take them away As the barren Figtree in the Gospel it was cut down that it might not cumber the ground But those that are active and serviceable they are a great delight and content to him and he takes a great deal of delight in thinking upon them as himself also expresses it in Malach. 3.16 17. They shall be mine sayes the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him A man loves all his children as children and from his Relation to them Oh but those who are of his Trade and which work to him those he loves and tenders more especially and would be lothest to part with them of any other besides and so is it here with God his sons that serve him their death is more precious with him of all the rest neither will he easily give them over to it Not that he simply needs any work or service of ours who when we have done all we can are at the best but unprofitable
in Out Cryes in Robberies in Fires and the like in what ever Calamities we can think off as tending upon the Night How Comfortable I say is this to a Beleiving Soul in such cases as these are to be with God still when he awakes This is the priviledg which belongs to such Persons as we have it further declared unto us in Psal 91.5 Where speaking to a man that maintaines Communion with God and that dwels in the secret of the most High he has this Expression about him Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by Night nor for the Arrow that flieth by day Nor for the Pestilence that walketh in Darkness Nor for the Destruction that wasteth at noon day A thousand shall sall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand But it shall not come nigh thee Hence he says again of himself Psal 23.4 Though I should walk in the Valley of the shadaw of Death I will fear no Evil for thou art with me Thy Rod and thy Staff they Comfort me In the Valley of the shadow of Death that is as we may explain it in the Night For as Sleep is the shadow of Death so is the Night the Valley of that Shadow When thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet Be not afraid of sudden fear neither of the Desolation of the Wicked when it cometh For the Lord shall be thy Confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken Secondly It quickens to Duty This waking with God in the Morning it keeps the heart in an holy frame and temper all the day after It makes us so much the fitter for those holy Exercises which are to be performed by us Yea indeed for any thing The Duties of our or ordinary Callings and Common and Domestick affairs they come off much the roundlier from us as we make Introductions to them by Communion first with God Thirdly It prevents from sin and Temptation at the least the prevalencies of it when a man shall neglect God at any time in the opening and Begining of the Day God many gives him over to the Power and malice of Satan and the Corruption of his own heart in the following part of it But now when he shall close with him betimes He will be watchful over him to preserve him And the Peace of God which passeth understanding shall keep his heart and mind through Christ Jesus Phil. 4.7 And thus we see the several Priviledges and Benefits that do attend upon this Practise The Vse of all comes to this even to excite us and provoke us and perswade us hereunto all that may be as that which is not onely our Duty but also our Advantage and confirmed to us by the Practise and Experience of all the Saints we should be much in this heavenly course of retiring to God upon all occasions and specially when we first awake to be still with Him in all the sences which I have now given of it We should wake our selves and also wake him as the Scripture sometimes advises us and gives us an Example in the Person of the Church Awake Lord why sleepest thou Arise cast us not off for ever as it is in Psal 44.23 I have set watchmen upon thy walls O Jerusalem which shall not hold their peace day nor night Ye which are the Lords Remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth Isa 62.6 7. Whatever we be mindfull else of in any of our Addresses to God we should be still mindfull of the Good of the Church and put himself in mind of it not give sleep to our eyes nor slumber to our eye-lids till he have in some sort prevailed with him for it There 's a special Emphasis in the words if ye observe them and take notice of them in that it is sayd I am still with thee which denotes Continuance and Perseverance It is not enough to have sudden flashes and stirrings of good thoughts in us when we awake in the Night or in the Morning or at any other time of Contemplation No but we must abide and fasten upon them I am still with thee that is as the word properly signifies I am yet with thee Gnoâ—hi gnimal Yet and yet and yet Like Friends that are like to depart and leave one another I am so with thee as that I know not how to get from thee we should please and delight our selves in such a blessed course as this is And that I say especially in the Morning and upon our first Awakening as indeed all the day long we should be still sucking and drawing from Him In set and limited times of Duty there may be sometimes if we look not better to it much of Custom and Formality and the doing of things as a tush c. But the keeping of the heart in a continued frame of Piety and inclinations towards God is most satisfactory and acceptable and hath a better Evidence with it Though the other likewise in its place is not to be neglected And as on all other dayes whatsoever so on the Lords day more especially we should be carefull to wake with God Then we should still with him and with him indeed As our Blessed Lord himself rose in the Morning of it whereby he did in some manner sanctifie it and set it apart for us so should we then be careful especially to rise in our thoughts and affections and meditations As he then awaked from Death so should we at such times especially awake both from sleep and sin and be watchfull in all the Duties of Religion Awake my Glory awake psaltery and harp I my self will awake right early Psal 57.8 Read Psal 92. to this purpose which is a Psalm penn'd for this occasion It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto his Name O most High To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night Vpon an instrument of ten strings and upon the psaltery upon the harp with solemn sound For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hands O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this c. Now if ye shall ask how we may attain to this blessed Condition whereof we now speak when we awake to be thus still with God I answer briefly in the Observation of these following Directions as pertinent hereunto First Walk with God in the day The Duties of Religion are link'd and chain'd together and come off more easily in the Conjunctive performance of each other Thus Reading and Hearing and Meditation and Communion of Saints Conscionably and Religiously perform'd do so much the better dispose to more immediate Communion with God And the Actions of the Day have
hood he should do any thing which was unworthy so long as he feared God there was no cause why they should fear him for this fear of God would restrain Him And that 's the first Grace here spoken of them as the Grace of Gods Acceptance the Grace of Fear The second is the Grace of Hope or Faith of those that hope in his mercy As the Lord takes pleasure in the former so in this likewise He delights in his Servants more especially as they give greater Testimonies of their Faith and Dependance upon him The more that any cleave unto Him the more doth he take care of them and pleasure in them Thus Psal 33.18 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy where we have both expressions of the Text joyn'd together and both to one and the same purpose as to Gods delight in such persons That which we are now speaking to is the latter of them That special respect which God bears to such persons as do by Faith cast themselves upon him and leave themselves to Him They are such as he is exceedingly pleased withal and does prize and esteem above any other The Reason of it is this because they are such as doe mos advance Him of any besides Faith it gives glory to God And therefore will he incourage those who do abound in it and who are most in the reall practise and exercise of it They are such as honour him in his Truth in his Power and in his Mercy which is the Prime of all And those that honour Him He will Honour Therefore let this teach us still to Act it and to draw it forth as much as we are able let us not cast away our Confidence which hath so great recompence of Reward as we see that it hath let us nourish and cherish this Heavenly Hope in us as much as we can which will carry us above all dejections and discouragements whatsoever Let us resolve and cry out with the Psalmist why art thou cast down oh my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God And so I have done with the Text in the first Acception of it as it may be taken Absolutely and Emphatically and in the simple Proposition as expressing Gods real Delight in such and such Persons The second is by taking it Comparatively and in Opposition to other Persons or Things And this as it refers to the verse immediately going before There we find it exprest thus He delighteth not in the strength of the horse He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man And then it follows presently in this verse The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him and that hope in his Mercy The scope and meaning whereof is this That God does not so much stand upon or accept of Humane and Natural means so as to assist and cooperate with them for his Churches Deliverance as He does delight rather to assist the Faith and Prayer of his Servants when they are void of all External Incouragements An humble standing in awe of God and a faithfull Dependance upon him and an Importunate seeking to Him it is a great deal more effectual to Deliverance then all earthly or Humane Assistance This is the Drift of this Passage and Expression which we have here before us And it is the same with that in the Scripture above mention'd which comes to one and the same effect Psal 33.16 17 18. There 's no King saved by the Multitude of an host A mighty man is not delivered by his much strength An horse is a vain thing for safety â—â—ither shall he deliver any by his great strength Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his Mercy where the Opposition is still made betwixt carnal means and spiritual and the latter advanced above the former Reliance upon God is a great deal surer then reliance upon Men. It is is usual and frequent with the Scripture to put the greatest Disparagement upon those Creatures which men are apt themselves most to trust in and to advance and cry up above all other And thus it does here in these Texts which we have now before us An horse if it be considered simply in it self it is a very useful and profitable Creature and especially in the Battel which it is in a special manner fitted and prepared for but yet without Gods concurrence with it and assistance of it it is of no force or efficacy at all Prov. 21.31 The horse is prepared against the day of battel but safety or victory is of the Lord. And here He takes no delight in the strength of an horse In which expression by a Synecdochical speech is signified the insufficiency of all Humane Refuges whatsoever and the efficacy and prevailing and sufficency of Faith it self before them Wisdom sayes the Preacher it is better then strength Eccl. 9.16 And again Wisdom it is better then weapons of war Eccl. 9.18 And in both he means Spiritual wisdom especially which is the wisdom that is from above This is better then all the strength in the world and is able both to stand out against it and to prevail over it We shall find this to be verified and made good by Divers Instances and Examples in Scripture where the Saints and Servants of God by the strength and Power of Faith and Prayer have been able to do more then all their enemies by all their Carnal and External Advantages whatsoever Thus it was with the Iraelites when they were pursued by Pharaoh and the Egyptians They had a great deal of outward strengh and advantage against them of Horses and Chariots and the like But what did these come to in the Conclusion and in regard of the Event See in Exod. 15.21 Sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously The horse and his Rider hath he thrown into the Sea According to that again in another place in Isa 21.3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God and their Horses flesh and not spirit when the Lord shall stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is holpen shall fall down and they shall all fall together There 's no strength against the strength of Israel So we may see it in Jabin and Sisera Who had Nine hundred Chariots of Iron with which they came against Israel but the Lord discomfited them and all their Hoste with the Edge of the Sword before Barak Judg. 4.15.16 And it is said there was not a man of them left So the Horses and Chariots which the King of Syria sent against Elisha 2 Kings 6.14 We know what they came to in Conclusion and how little they preailed against Him The Faith of the Prophet it procured a greater strength then that which was opposite unto Him The Mountain being full of Horses and Chariots of Fire round about Elisha So likewise Hezekiah in
sence a comforting of us in Distresses a companion for us in solitariness and loneliness and what not If there be so much contentment in other Authors how much more is there in the book of God which is the chief Book of all It is the want of Experience and Tryal of such performanees as these are which makes any to be ignorant of the Delight and sweetness which is in them Those which have tasted of honey they know the sweetness of honey And so those which have tasted of Gods word they know the Excellency and Comfortableness which is in it and will desire it again and again Thirdly The Communion of Saints how pleasant likewise is this That holy Conference and Discourse which Christians have one with another in provoking one another to love and good works in quickning one anothers graces in Communicating one anothers Experiences in the inlarging of one anothers Comforts As Iron sharpens iron so does the heart of man here his friend It is the begining even of Heaven it self and a pledge of that perfect contentment which the Saints shall have hereafter in that place which should stir us up so much the more to the practise of it We see how it was with the Disciples in the first Plantations of the Christian Church Acts 2.46 They continued daily with one accord in Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of bread from house in house and did their meat with gladness and singleness of heart They did eat their meat with gladness namely in regard of the delight which they had one with another Fourthly The Communion which Christ and the Saints both take at the Lords Table There is a great deal of Contentment here also How does the soul of a Christian feast it self with these Royal and heavenly Preparations Here Christ spreads His Table as it were for us sets before us His Milk and His Wine and His Honey and His Oyl and all that may be to give us refreshment A conscientious Christian who uses these things as he ought not Formally not Customarily but in obedience and dependance upon God He findes a great deal of Comfort in them which another does not find As Jonathan when he had tasted of the honey in 1 Sam. 14.27 It is said his eyes were enlightned by it and he was cheared and revived in his spirit and more strengthned for the pursuit of the Philistims even so is it with a Godly soul in its partaking of these Comfortable dainties this spiritual honey and Oyle he becomes more inlighten'd in his judgement more quicken'd and inlarged in his Affections and so much the more fitted to incounter with all his spiritual enemies whereas those which abstain from that grow weary and faint as the people did there in that place that abstained from the tasting of the honey There 's no Epicure has such pleasure in his Corporal dainties as a good Christian has in these Spiritual which he does by faith apply himself to and in an holy manner partake off Lastly In a word Take the whole Sabbath together The sanctifying of the Lords day in all the several performances of it and the mixture of the one with the another how much sweetness is there in it The Scripture tells us of some that make the Sabbath a delight as there are others which make it a burden Isa 58.13 14. Amos 8.5 This is the different Disposition of Persons in the world though some snuff at the Ordinances yet others take Contentment in them A Godly man he rejoyces when the Sabbath is come it is the best day to him in all the week in regard of that satiety of soul which he meets with in it He is hereby taken off from the world and the distracting imployments of it He is set upon thoughts of God and Heaven and Salvation and the life to come such thoughts as have some kind of a satisfactoriness and pleasingness in them And the very change and intercourse of Duty is not without its delight herein also sometimes Prayers and sometimes Hearing and sometimes Meditating and sometimes Conferring and sometimes Reading and sometimes Singing How graciously has God provided for our weakness in this particular while our Natures are so desirous of Varity that no one duty might be tedious to us we have many Duties to imploy our selves in and to exercise our selves with And that 's a Third Explication of the Pleasantness which is in Godlyness viz. from the Duties and Exercises of Religion Now the point thus Explain'd unto us may be fruitful in these following Applications Namely First As it serves to confute the fond conceit of men of the World which they have concerning Godliness and the ways of Piety There are many which are of this opinion that Religion is a Melancholly Condition that it makes men pensive and sad and has no pleasure nor delight in it at all and hence they come to be discouraged from the following and professing of it and are apt to discourage others likewise from following it to But this proceeds from a plain mistake and Ignorance and erroniousness of Judgment in them for indeed it is quite contrary as 't is here exprest to us in this Text. Her wayes are wayes of Pleasantness There 's a great deal of sweet delight and refreshment in the wayes of Godliness to those which walk in them and what ever is pleasant in any ways the same is to be found here in these First Godly Prospects they are one thing which make a way pleasant green Fields and flowing Rivers and the like to walk by such wayes as these it carries a great deal of pleasure and delight with it why thus now does the Spirit of God in Scripture set forth to us the wayes of Religion Psal 23.2.3 He makes me to lie down in green Pastures he leads me besides the still Waters he restoreth my Soul he leadeth me in the paths of Righteousness for his name sake Where the latter is an Explication of the former The green Pastures and still Waters are no others then the paths of Righteousness and the Ordinances which lead thereunto Secondly Another pleasantness of wayes consists in their Lightsomeness to walk in dark wayes in Holes and Woods and the like it carries no pleasure at all in it He that walkes in Darkness he knoweth not whether he goeth sayes the Apostle and from thence can have no pleasure in his walk such are the wayes of Sin and Wickedness no comfort at all in them Who leaves the paths of Vprightness to walk in the wayes of Darkness Pro. 2.13 But the wayes of Grace are otherwise Light is sown for the Righteous as it is in the place before used And joy for the Vpright in heart Thirdly Another Pleasantness of the way is much taken from the Company Comes facundus in via per rehiculo est Why this now is the advantage of Goodness there 's good Company in this way Prov. 2.20 That thou mayest walk in the way
backsliding and turning aside yet that the Lord he 's still the same and so continueth and does not alter his purpose concerning us which does abide for ever towards us I the Lord change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed in Malach. 3.6 And it is of the Lords Mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Lam. 3.32 If our hope were onely in our own Counsel we were then in a very sad and miserable condition indeed we should be in Jeopardy every hour through the inconstancy and instability which is in us But now that is in Gods Counsel here we are in safe and sure hands which certainly keeps us up Now though we have many Devices and ways even to undo our selves if God should leave us and let us alone yet because his Counsel is immutable and unvariable and always one and the same without change or alteration therefore is our Eternal Condition accordingly immutable with it This does not lay ground to any as some would make it to do for security or neglect of the means but rather the contrary Because the same Counsel of God which does stand in reference to the End does stand also in reference to the means which lead and conduce to that end And as he has purposed immutably that such Persons shall come to Heave so he has likewise as immutably purposed that they shall do so by walking in those ways whereby Heaven is come unto As he has prepared it for us so he has prepared us for it and made us so meet to be partakers of the inheritance of Saints in light And thus of this Point as it refers to matter of Predestination and the concernments of the life to come It is true also in the Second place as it may be taken in reference to Providence and the Affairs of this Life present Here The counsel of the Lord shall also stand Which seems especially to be intended as the Scope and Drift of this Scripture now in hand What ever it is that God has purposed and Decreed and set down with himself either in Order to whole Nations in General or in order to private persons in particular that his Counsel is sure to stand and to hold good and that alone as we are here to understand it As for this That Gods Counsel is exercised about such things as these are I take it for granted as not to be questioned Not a Sparrow falls to the ground without the will of our Heavenly Father Yea the very hairs of our head are all numbred as our Blessed Saviour himself tells us Matth. 10.29 Much more is his Providence carryed to greater matters God may change his Dispensations but he never alters his Counsels that 's all one and the same But that which is now before us that what he appoints and purposes in these things it comes to pass And it is clear from variety of Experiences which do make it good unto us both in Scripture and dayly Observation When God has at any time manifested his purpose foretold it and declared it before-hand as he has sometimes been pleased to do by his Prophets that purpose and Counsel of his it hath still infallibly been accomplished and the Accomplishment of it made a proof of the truth of those Prophets which have fore-told it so certain a thing is it and beyond all Controversie or Exception We have a notable instance of it in the Relief of the Famine of Samaria which the Lord had fore-told by Elisha And the Lord upon whose hand the King leaned so much questioned as to say that if God would make windows in heaven it could not be yet it came to pass as the Man of God had spoken and that in all the circumstances of it So as to the repairing of Jericho what God purposed and declared concerning it we see was fulfilled and brought to pass and that exactly in the Attendants upon it if ye compare Josh 7.26 with 1 King 16.34 according to the Word of the Lord. So likewise as to the bringing of the Children of Israel out of Egypt God's Counsel held good to a very day as we may see in Exod. 12.41 It came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years even the self same day it came to pass it is twice repeated that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt And so many Examples more which I might easily instance if it were needful and time would give leave And so much may suffice to have spoken of the First Branch in the Second General viz. The Simple Assertion The counsel of the Lord shall stand whether we take it for his Truth and Doctrine or else his Purpose and Decree The Second is the Additional Opposition or Correction qualifying of it Which is indeed chiefly considerable of us in the word Nevertheless as relating to what was declared in the beginning of the Verse concerning the several Devices in Man's heart Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord shall stand Where for our better proceeding in it and understanding of it we may take notice that the Hebrew Conjunction Vav hear in the Text for so it is Va-anatsath it hath a threefold Emphasis with it as sometimes also in other places viz. Copulative and Discretive and Illative Copulative Both Man has his Devices and God has his Discretive Though Man has his Devices yet God has his Illative Because Man has his Devices therefore God has his Here is the Consistence of God's Counsels with Man's Here is the Resistance of God's Counsels against Man's Here is the Subsistence of God's Counsel from Man's Each of these are in this Expression First Here is the Consistence of God's Counsels with Man's by taking the word Copulatively for And As Man has his Devices so God also has his Counsels There is the one as well as the other Counsel or Devising is but improperly attributed to God who needs not such help as those are as Man indeed doth But yet in a sense it is fastened upon him and that by the Scripture it self which does oftentimes bring him under such expressions after the manner of men of Device and Counsel and the like Thus Jer. 18.11 Thus saith the Lord of hosts to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem behold I frame evil against you and devise a device against you Choshev The same word as in the Text. But that which I here take notice of about it is its Conjunction with the Devices of Man which the Scripture does elsewhere also declare as counterpoysing and balancing of them especially in reference to the Christians and People of God Thus Psal 2.2 The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed But then it follows in Vers 4. He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh the Lord will have them in derision I will declare the Decree Laugh why does he laugh
and is confident Still to the same purpose and effect So which is also much at one with it Prov. 28.5 Evil men understand not judgment but they that seek the Lord understand all things And again Eccles 2.14 The wise man's eyes are in his head but the fool walketh in darkness It is true as concerning God's Judgments If we shall ask how this comes about that a Godly man hath this fore-sight in him we may take it thus First By the Dictates of the Word of God He fore-sees it from hence A Christian considers what God has threatned against such and such ways and sinful courses and finding those courses to be taken does hence conclude that such Judgments will in all likelihood follow upon them For God he is true to his Word and what he has threatned he will bring to pass As nothing shall fail of his Promises and of the good things which are foretold by him so not of his Threatnings neither We may conclude it and build upon it Secondly by the Observations of Prudence and the concurrence of one thing with another We may see what God will do hereafter by that which he hath done already and the comparing and laying of things together God does usually things in their Preparations before he does them in the things themselves And there are the Warnings of Judgment before the Accomplishments and Consummation of it Now a wise man he has regard to these which he takes notice of A good Christian he studies Providence he marks what God does in the World and for what end and purpose he does it and so thereby does satisfie himself as to the Expectation of it and it is no strange matter to him then when it comes For every thing which God does it has a Voice and Tongue in it and speaks somewhat or other to us by it if we will listen and give heed unto it This is that which the prudent man does He is an Observer and from thence a Fore-seer Thirdly By the Inward Hints and Suggestion of the Spirit of God it self There is a Spirit of Discerning which God does in these Cases bestow upon his Servants whereby they are able to say much to future things I know Abraham says God and shall I hide from him the thing that I will do speaking of the Destruction of Sodom Gen. 18.17 And the Lord will do nothing but he reveals his secrets to his Prophets Amos 3.7 It is true there are not now to be expected those direct and immediate Revelations which were to the Prophets in former times but yet there is somewhat answerable to them There are certain General Discoveries and Intimations of things at large so many of Gods servants even now as of what he will bring to pass in the world so as may tend to their preparation and qualification and predisposition for it Those which are much acquainted with God and are accustomed to Communion with him they have many an hint tendred to them which every one is not acquainted withal And that as in reference to Gods Judgments and Dispensations And that 's the First part of Spiritual Wisdom which is considerable in a Christian Namely this That to fore-see the evil in reference to it The Second is in reference to Activity or Practise And hides himself this must be joyned with the other or else it is in vain It is to no purpose for any one to fore-see evil and to rush into it for so it were no better for him than if he were wholly ignorant of it But upon fore-sight of it to avoid it This a Godly man does He improves his fore-sight and discovery of evil coming on to his own safegard and protection Thus t is said of Noah that being moved with fear he prepared an Ark He did not only fear and rest himself in that fear but his fear put him upon Preparation and Provision against the eminent danger or that which was fore-seen by him And so it is also with every good Christian As he has wisdom to preapprehend evil so he has care likewise to prevent it and keep it from himself This is signified in this expression of Hiding which implies an Indeavour to Escape the danger which is fore-seen It is that which we often meet withall in Scripture the Saints hiding of themselves against Time of Trouble especially in the Book of Psalms It is that which David makes mention of again and again of Gods Hiding of him and of his hiding himself with God we can hardly turn a leaf but we find it he makes mention of it upon all occasions Now this is that which is here also signified to be the property of every other Beleiver even to hide himself in such times as these are If we would know how this is done I answer in the Exercise of all such Graces as are pertinent hereunto As First of all Meekness and Humility that 's an Hiding-Grace A Grace which keeps men safe from a storm Proud and lofty Person they are liketrees exposed to wind and weather but the humble and lowly they are preserved as it is in Job 22.29 When men are cast down then they shall say There is lifting up And he shall save the humble person So Zeph. 2.3 Seek ye the Lord all ye meek of the Earth which have wrought his Judgement seek righteousness seek meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger The meek they are most likely to be hid of any other besides Secondly Repentance that 's another Hiding Grace The more we hide our sins the less we hide our selves but when by Confession and Humiliation before God we lay them open to him he covers them and our selves with them There 's no better way for any one to be kept in safety from any eminent evil than by repenting and turning to God with all his heart such as these they do receive special safeguard and protection from Him and shall be kept from Evil. Thirdly Faith that 's another Faith it shrowds it self under Gods wings and keeps it there A true Beliver betakes himself to Gods Attributes and finds a great deal of satisfaction from them his power and truth And God himself takes such an one into his protection How great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee Thou shalt hide them in the secret af thy presence from the pride of man Thou shalt keep them in the secret of thy presence c. Psal 31.19 20. Fourthly Charity and Bounty to the poor That 's a Grace also which Hides He that hides his money he does not hide himself but he that distributes it and gives it abroad The Lord takes special care of such as those in time of trouble to secure them and protect them from evil And that also as the fruits of those mens prayers whom they are kind unto According to that in
Psal 41.1 2. Blessed is he that considereth the Poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive c. Lastly A Godly man hides himself in the whole work of self-reformation and holiness of life In carefulness to please God in all things and to do those things which he requires of him sin it makes a man naked it exposes him and lays him open to evil and all manner of danger but a good and Pious Conversation is a sure defence Innocency is the the best shelter that can be and that which will keep a man safe when nothing else will And thus we see how in all these respects a good Christian hides himself which is his Activity or Practise Now to join these two Points both together in the Improvement and Application We see here two Properties of a wise and Godly man The one as to matter of Fore-sight He fore-sees the Evil. And to other as to matter of Indeavour He hides himself What now remains but that we for our particulars should be careful to put those both into practise and to be carefull of them in regard of our selves First To Fore-see the evil to look after that We see how in every thing else it is counted a peice of wisdom in men and that which they indeavour after In matter of trade to fore-see the Dearness of the Market In matter of Wars to fore-see the devices of the Enemy In matter of Health to fore-see the coming on of a Disease And why should we not also in Providence fore-see also the arising of a Judgment Surely as we do ever disire to approve our selves for wise men it concerns us to be skilfull in this We see how the want or neglect of it is still reproved and upbraided in Scripture Thus the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 8.7 The stork in the Heaven knows her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow know the time of their coming but my people know not the Judgement of the Lord. And so our Blessed Saviour we find him upon this censure likewise of the Jews Matth. 16.2 3. When it is Evening ye say it will be Fare weather for the sky is Red and in the Morning it will be fowl weather to day for the Sky is Red and lowring O ye Hypocrites ye can discern the face of the Sky but can ye not discern the sign of the times He reproves them for that they had skill in natural Predictions but yet had not skill in spiritual There are some kind of foresights sometimes in the world and fore-tellings of evil but what are they Even the bold and presumptuous undertakings of insolent persons your Astrologers and Star-gazers and the like whom God suffers in his judgement to seduce and deceive a people that love to be deceived But as for this Christian fore-sight here spoken of It is thas which few are acquainted withall or which care to be acquainted It is our Wisdom to regard it our selves that so evils may not surprize us or that day come upon us unawares For which purpose we should first pray to God to instruct us and direct us and to open our eyes we should beg of him the spirit of Revelation as whereby to see the Mystery of Religion so likewise to see the Mystery of Providence and understand Gods dealings in the world That which I see not teach them me as it is Job 34.3 Secondly We should also our selves mark things and take notice of what is done in the world we should as I said lay things together and compare one thing with another and see how one thing follows upon another This should be done by us in order to our fore-sight and pre-apprehension of any evil which is to come As we desire to shew our selves discreet and prudent Christians so we should be carefull of this Fore-seeing of Evil. And then again also farther to hide our selves let us look to that also As our knowledge should tend to practise to us in every thing else so amongst the rest in this As we do any thing pre-discern and apprehend it we should we should hide our selves from it which is done especially in the fore-named Graces There are many false coverts in the world which will not do it The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it as it is Esai 28.20 Such is Wealth or strength or Wit or Friends or any of such things as these are It is not these which will be able to cover us in the day of the Lords anger No it is nothing but the love and favour of God himself that will do it when nothing else will He shall cover thee with his Feather and under his wings shalt thou trust Psal 9.19 And that we may do this the more effectually it will concern us to acquaint our selves with God without this there is no expectation of shelter from him For he hides none but his Friends and his houshold-servants And therefore Eliphaz does very properly give Job such Counsel as this Acquaint thy self with him c. Then shall the Almighty be thy defence He is a buckler to all that trust him and he is good to them that know him and whom himself does know Therefore labour to get an interestand propriety in him yea and that before trouble comes the evil it self which is fore-seen Let the Ark be built before the flood and deluge over-flows there 's no hiding then if we take not care to hide our selves before-hand Therefore let us have a regard to that Close with God before the Plague comes that so when it does come we may find favour and mercy with him and refuge and safety in him which will be our greatest security And those which are in some measure acquainted they should labour to be more and to perfect their acquaintance with him Yea not only to have acquaintance but Communion and dayly Converse We should take heed of being in such a state and condition of Soul as from whence God may refuse to shelter us and protect us when Evil draws near But then again He hides himself We are to take this not only as an Expression of Enedavour but of Success He foresees the evil and hides himself that is he so behaves himself as from whence God does undertake to hide him The Lord hides such prudent persons as these are in the days of evil and danger as Jeremy and Baruck Jer. 36.26 it is said the Lord hid them This he does to the rest of his prudent and provident Servants In his Presence in his Pavilion under his Wings in the hollow of his hand he has many Receptacles and Hiding Places for them His Providence is large and broad enough to hide them from any Evil which may happen unto them sometimes in other Countries sometimes in their own sometimes in the Grave as Job 14.13
that which cannot be avoided at least any other way than by turning from it Sin without this shall be punished that is determined and resolved upon And because it is so indeed therefore here spoken of as if it were done already especially Progress in time increasing and adding to it which is here also further implyed Wicked men shall be punished for their Wickedness simply considered but their continuance and improvement in it shall both increase and hasten their Punishment so much the more when they pass on then punished especially because the further they run in debt the more they provoke the Creditor to exact that which is his own The Use which we are to make of it is to believe it and to tremble at it And upon this Consideration so much the rather to take heed of Sin and the Aggravations of it forasmuch as we see here the End and Conclusion of it and that is Punishment either now or hereafter either here or in a worse place And we should lay these Considerations before us in all tempations and provocations to sin what ever they be There is reason to take us off from it and to keep us from the committing of it if we do but consider the vileness and filthiness of it in its own nature how unworthy it is of our Profession how unanswerable to the goodness of God and his gracious dealings with us But if all this will not serve to restrain us and to prevail upon us here is further to perswade us the Punishment which is attendant thereupon Pass on and are punished And thus much as this Word they are punished does refer to their first Sin it self and the iniquity which is in them Secondly It may refer also to their Security They pass on and are punished that is they are punished because they pass on And so it has this in it that Security is a great promoter of Punishment The more secure that any are in Sin the more likely to be punished for Sin Their Punishment does now advance and does come on so much the faster upon them as that which they shall not escape This there is a double Ground and Reason for the one in the Nature of the Thing the other in the Justice of God First In the Nature of the Thing in self It must needs be so He that sees not the Pit but passes on he must needs fall into it This is the Case of a Secure Person Punishment and Judgment is before him and yet he sees it not He promises himself Peace and Safety even when Ruin and Destruction is upon him And then Secondly In the Justice of God Who thinks himself in this Case engaged to proceed to Punishment so much the rather as being by this temper more discredited and contemned in his Proceedings For the Secure Person does despise all God's Threatnings and Warnings and beginnings of Judgment upon him And this is that which God will not endure but will most certainly call to an Account and Reckoning for Now let us lay all these things together and for the right Use and Improvement of them let us consider how far we are interessed and concerned in them how far we do partake of the Prudent Man and how far we do take share with the Simple Let us search and examine our hearts in each Particular and see whether or no in this respect we may not justly take up a Complaint against our selves The names of Wise and Foolish are such Titles as we commonly look upon with a great deal of Affection There is nothing which men do more abhor and disdain than to be accounted Fools nor affect than to be reckoned and esteemed as Wise Men. Now see how far we do indeed prove to be so upon this Discovery of it It is a Point which is here determined to us by God himself who is the Wise God and so best able to judge and to discern either of Folly or Wisdom And we see here how he brings it to this issue for the Proofs of either accordingly as we stand affected towards his Judgments and Executious upon Sin Now therefore by this Touch-stone let us prove and make tryal of our selves what kind of Persons indeed we are First As to the Fore-sight of Evil what share we have in that Whether or no are our Wits about us in this Particular to apprehend Gods threatning of us and expressing himself to be against us by his proceedings towards us Surely if this be the Property of Prudent Men the greatest number will appear to be simple who for the most part are very stupid and senseless in this particular Most men are as St. Peter expresses it Blind and which cannot see afar off 2 Pet. 1.9 Afar off Nay indeed near at hand and in the very Approaches of Judgment Which put far away from them the evil day as it is said of them in the Prophet Amos 6.3 And again in the Prophet Micah Is not the Lord among us no evil can come upon us Mic. 3.11 Now how far then are these here from Solomon's Wise and Prudent Man which foreseeth the evil Again Secondly As to Amendment and Reformation and Self-hiding How far are many from this also Though God's Judgments are not only threatned but also inflicted whether or no is there any turning to him all this while Surely no doubt but some there are which are to be found so doing which tremble at God's Word and at God's Judgments which foresee the evil and hide themselves and so in that respect do deserve the name of Prudent Persons But they are not many which are of this number The Generality of the World they sin and pass on and are punished or at least will be as taking such ways and courses which do threaten as much unto them Let us but look a little abroad into the World and see how it is there with us whether sin does not as much abound in the Land and in this City as ever it did notwithsanding all God's Judgments upon us both inflicted and threatned By Error in Judgment Corruption in Practice Licentiousness of Conversation Pride Luxury Wantonness Excess in Apparel Immodest and Lascivious Attire or rather indeed Want of Attire Laying open their own Shame and Nakedness in a most uncivil manner Such a Miscarriage which I am ashamed almost to speak of in a Christian Congregation In their Breasts in their Necks nay their Shoulders principally and where next And that not only in such Persons as are not so well instructed but even in those which are better taught and should be Examples to others Professors of Godliness and Religion they are oftentimes too shamefully guilty of Exorbitancy in this Particular both to the scandal of Religion it self and to the furtherance of God's Plagues and Judgments upon the places where they live I know you will give me the hearing but do as you list and it is somewhat to have been admonished Now let all such
And that Punishment which is light of it self Impenitency aggravates it And that Punishment which is passive of it self Impentence stays it Impenitency is the Cause and Ground and Occasion of the greatest and heaviest Judgments that are And the reason of it is this Because it does seem in a manner to own and justifie sin and stand in the Commission of it Where People sin of Infirmity but yet repent they do thereby in a sort and interpretatively undo what has been done by them And though the Acts of it cannot be recalled by them yet the Guilt of it is in some manner quallified by a contrary frame and temper of spirit and consequent departing from it But Impenitency does as it were repeat and renew the former miscarriage even there where for a time there may be an Actual Abstinency from it He that does not repent of Sin he commits it even then when he refrains it as to the Actual Condition of it Again further Thus is this also in Impenitency that it does in a manner trespass upon all the Attributes of God which it either questions or else vilifies and makes nothing at all of them The Omniscience of God as to the deserts of Sin Psal 94.7 Tush the Lord doth not see neither doth the God of Jacob regard it The Truth of God as to the Threats of Sin 2 Pet. 3.4 Where is the promise of his coming for since the father fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation The Justice of God as to the punishing of Sin Considering God to be all Mercy and Pitty and Indulgence c. The Power of God as to the executing of Judgment As thinking that his hands cannot reach them nor that he is able especially in some cases to be avenged upon it or to do what he threatens against it Yea the Mercy and Goodness of God which it abuses to a further Continuance and Persistency in Evil. Thus trespassing upon all God's Attributes it must needs especially draw down God's Judgments The Third and Last thing observeable in this Passage for the ground and occasion of Judgment whereupon it proceeds is their Continued Obstinacy This was that which was the unhappiness of this People here in the Text as it is also sometimes of divers others besides not only that they did not repent but moreover that they would not there was not only their Negative Remorselesness but also their Positive Perverseness Far as they did not turn to him that smote them so neither did they seek the Lord of hosts They were now so settled upon their Lees and confirmed in their wicked and sinful Courses as that they were wholly and absolutely incorrigible And this must needs now introduce and hasten and hale and pull the Judgments of God down upon our heads Therefore and therefore with a witness will God now proceed to the punishing of them The Consideration of these things should makes us so much the more wary of our selves in this Particular As we desire to avoid Punishment so to be careful to abstain from sin and to take heed of that And especially to take heed of Impenitency and persistence and abiding in sin If by chance we should fall into it not to stay and rest in it Shall we continue in sin saith the Apostle God forbid And so long as we do not repent of it God makes account that we do continue in it which we should be heedful and wary of And more especially above all of Obstinacy and Perverseness of Spirit It is bad enough to sin at first and after that to forbear to repent but to sin and to refuse to repent that is a great deal worse by far and so most of all to be declined by us And so near I have done with the First General Part of the Text which is the Ground or Occasion of God's Judgments threatned against this People included in the Particle Therefore as relating to what went before Therefore because of their impiety and Therefore because of the impenitency and Therefore because of their obstinacy The Second is The Judgment it self in these words The Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day Wherein again we have three Branches more First The Denuntiation of the Judgment Secondly The Extent of it And Thirdly The Time The Denuntiation of it The Lord will cut off from Israel The Extent of it Head and tail The Time or Season of it In one day First To speak of the former viz. The Denuntiation of the Judgment The Lord will cut off from Israel Wherein again take notice of three things further First The Author of it and that is the Lord. Secondly The Matter of it and that is Cutting off Thirdly The Subject of it or the Persons and People which are more particularly involved in it and that is Israel For the First The Author of this Judgment which is here mentioned it is expressed to be the Lord. The Expression of it is to be referred to such as themselves who took Samaria and led Israel Captive to Assyria 2 King 17.23 But the Infliction of it is to be referred to the Lord as sole in it Whoever may be the Instrument it is God alone who is the Author of Judgment The Lord will cut off take notice of that This is that which the Scripture does every where declare unto us as Isa 42.24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the Robbers did not I the Lord He against whom ye have sinned And so Isa 45.7 Saith the Lord of himself I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things And so Isa 10.5 6. O Assyrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is my indignation I will send him against an hypocritical Nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire in the streets There is no evil in the City that is of punishment and the Lord hath not done it This holds good especially upon a twofold Consideration First Of the Sovereignty and Power of God It is he only that is able to punish It is he alone that hath all Men and Creatures under his Command Men are sometimes out of the reach one of another And though they have now and then a mind to punish yet they have not always an Ability or Opportunity But as for the Lord he is able and powerful As he is mighty to save where he will deliver so he is mighty to punish where he will destroy And then Secondly Upon the Account of the Holiness and Purity which is in God There are none which are so fit to punish others as those who are innocent Persons Guilty and Obnoxious Persons although sometimes they are prevailed to punish in regard of others miscarriages And although
one and the same purpose Whereby we have signified to us the Vniversality and Impartiallity of this Destruction which is here threatned It shall be of so general an Extent as to reach to all sorts of Persons High and Low Rich and Poor Great and Small to one as well as to another But yet for Order's sake we will speak distinctly of each and begin first with the former which is the Metaphor taken from a Body in the Head and the Tail Under this Resemblance first of all we have declared unto us the Generality of the Persons which are here threatned with final Abscision or cutting off It shall extend even to such as these Head and Tail in the sense and use of Scripture are sometimes the Expressions of Superiority or Inferiority of Conditions the one being an Emblem of Preferment the other of Disparagement Thus we find them to be taken in Deut. 28.13 where Moses speaking to such an one as is careful to keep God's Commandments he thus expresses it The Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail and thou shalt be above only and shalt not be beneath Where the later Expression does seem to interpret the former Thou shalt be the Head that is thou shalt be above and in degrees of Honour and Dignity And not the Tail that is not beneath and in places of Servitude and Subjection And so again in Vers 44. of the same Chapter speaking to one who refuses to keep God's Statutes he says this to him The stranger that is within thee shall get above thee very high and thou shalt come down very low he shall be the head and thou shalt be the tail So that by the Head and the Tail is meant the High and the Low such Persons as are in a state of Advancement and such Persons as are in a state of Abasement both one and the other We may reduce it by way of Explication to a threefold Rank still First Of Age and so Head and Tail that is Old and Young Secondly Of Estate and so Head and Tail that is Rich and Poor Thirdly Of Place or Authority and so Head and Tail that is Governors and Governed Magistrates Ministers People and those who are subordinate and in subjection to them When God says here that he will cut off from Israel Head and Tail he threatens in case of their Impenitency and Persistence in Sin the Extirpation of all these Ranks and Conditions of Men. First In point of Age Old and Young He will cut off these The Ancient he is said to be the Head in the Verse immediately following And so by proportionable Opposition the Young are the Tail But both in case of Obstinacy and Perverseness of Carriage exposed to God's destroying hand Age in its Nature is such as calls for great respect and therefore in the same Place joyned with Honourable the Ancient and the Honourable The hoary head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the way of righteousness Prov. 16.31 Therefore the Lord had so much respect for such Persons as he gave a Commandment in particular about them Levit. 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man But yet Age where it shall degenerate into Wickedness it becoms obnoxious to Judgment When these who are old in years shall withal become old in Sin and confirmed in the custom of Evil Doing their hoary head shall not save them nor their gray hairs be a security to them The Lord shall cut off from Israel the head that is him that is mighty And So the Tail even him that is young also God threatens to cut off this likewise Those which are young there is somewhat in them inviting to tenderness and compassion from the tenderness of their condition as also from the hopefulness of Succession Such as these may continue in the World when others have left it and are in their Graves Yea but if these grow naught and wicked and loose and licentious and incorrigible there is no hopes for them neither that they should escape God's Destroying Hand but shall so much the sooner be cut off by it as the greater punishment to that Nation whereunto they belong Because when the young ones are destroyed there 's no likelihood for a succeeding Generation And this is that which is threatned expresly even here in this Chapter the 17th verse of it the next but one following the Text Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men neither shall he have mercy on their fatherless and widdows for every one is an hypocrite c. And that 's the first Branch of Explication as it refers to Age Head and Tail that is Old and Young The Second is as it refers to Estate Head and Tail that is Rich and Poor This is another explication which may be well fastned upon this expression For Rich and Poor are as much distant one from the other as those two Those who are rich may very well be called the Head from that priviledge which they have in the World And those who are poor may as well be called the Tail from that dependance which they have upon them and inferiency to them together with that scorn and contempt and reproach which is now and then put upon them when the Lord threatens even such as these also in case of Impenitency in either Head or Tail First The Rich he will deal with them and their wealth shall not secure them from the Judgment of God Those who abound in wealth and withall abound in sin they shall consequently abound in punishment and there shall be no escape for them When God comes to punish any People for the sinfulness and wickedness which is amongst them this shall be no defence unto you Riches avail not in the day of wrath Prov. 11.4 And in Ezek. 7.19 They shall cast their silver in the streets and their gold shall be removed their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord they shall not satisfie their souls nor fill their bowels because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity Therefore the Apostle James does upon this account denounce a most heavy woe to such persons in Jam. 5.1 c. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were with fire Ye have heaped up treasure for the last days This for the impenitent Rich. And so for the impenitent Poor Ther 's Judgment and cutting off for them likewise if they so continue Look as there are the Temptations of Poverty as well as of Riches and therefore of those which are Poor as well as of those who are Rich so there are the Punishments which do belong to
Professors and Embracers of it Now shall we exempt such Persons as these from being Wicked Men or from being liable to Eternal Damnation Or shall such as these think to flee from the Wrath to come Surely no in no wise they are as deeply engaged in it as any other and are as certainly inovlved in it Therefore Let none flatter themselves in this Particular or think ever the better of themselves in such Circumstances for they have no cause so to do For they are notwithstanding wicked Persons as they are here termed And accordingly shall have the Portion of the Wicked to happen unto them which is to be cast into utter darkness and to have their part in that lake which burns with fire and brimstone For this purpose consider thus much That God looks at the inward frame and temper of their Spirits more than any thing else which is considerable in that And if that be not such as it should be he has no reckoning or esteem of them as such who are little better herein than the Devil himself Take the Devil himself and If he were to live here in Humane Shape upon Earth he would not be a common Drunkard or Swearer or Whore-master or Ranting Person but would in a manner scorn such kind of Brutish and Swinish Sins as those as which would not be so much for his advantage No but he would be rather a secret Envyer and Underminer of the Power of Religion he would oppose and hinder Goodness and Piety all he could he would Scoff and Mock at Christianity and the Principles of it and do his utmost indeavour to draw men from the entertaining of it All this and the like he would do in a fair outward and civil conversation And whiles many others do no more then so and in a manner do as much How can they do other than fall into the condemnation of the Devil which is here mentioned that is To depart into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Therefore though we have Civility and would have others to have it also and to be conscionable in the practise of all the Duties that belong unto it as they are laid down in the Second Table of the Law Yet we would have men to rest or content themselves in such a state as this is without somewhat else added unto it of Repentance and Humility and Self-denyal and Faith in Christ A new and gracious frame and temper of heart causing them to hate all kind of sin considered as sin and for the forsaking of it and to apply themselves to every thing which is Good for Goodness sake To be renewed in the spirit of their minds as the Scipture expresses it To take this part which we are now upon in the full Notion and Latitude of it concerning such Persons as are wicked and shall be turned into Hell we are to take in this as in a special manner belonging hereunto and as principally intended in it namely The Sin of Vnbelief and Disobedience to the Gospel of Christ. Such as are guilty of such Sins as these are the Main and Chief Sinners which are here spoken of as exposed and given up to this Punishment This is the Condemnation says our Blessed Saviour That light is come into the world and that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil Joh. 3.19 And so the Apostle Peter seems to declare unto us in that his quick and convincing Question and Expostulation 1 Pet 4.17 If Judgment begin with us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of Christ And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appear Where by the Ungodly and Sinner he seems to intend more especially such as he had said were disobedient to the Gospel These being such as do in a special manner deserve such names to be put upon them These shall not be able to appear at the General Day of Account with any Confidence or Boldness in themselves Therefore though other Sinners are as we have shewn before included in this Expression of Wicked Persons and so consequently liable to the Judgment which is here passed upon them Yet these are more especially intended above the rest as being mainly concerned in it Vnbelief it is the great Damning Sin because all other Sins besides that do especially damn in the strength of that as giving an Actual Force and Efficacy unto them especially where it is joyned with slighting and contemning of the Mercies and Ordinances and Opportunities of Salvation Here it is damning indeed and puts those who are guilty of it into the lowest place of Hell This our Saviour intimates to us in the Case of Corazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum those Cities wherein most of his mighty Works had been done with little success as to the Improvement of them That it should be more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for them Matth. 11.22 The Tyrians rnd Sidonians and Sodomites they were great and grievous Sinners They were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly as the Scripture tells us Gen. 13.10 But yet these people which repulsed the Gospel and refused to comply with that they were wickeder and greater Sinners than those and are threatned with a hotter place in Hell as belonging unto them And so much may suffice to have been spoken of the Persons here adjudged and condemned in their Comprehensive Representation expressed in that word The Wicked as reduced to three Ranks especially that is Open and Scandalous Sinners Close and Reserved Hipocrites Carnal and Vnregenerate Persons The Second is as they are laid down Emphatically in these Words And all the Nations that forget God Wherein again two Particulars more First The Subjects of the Punishment here mentioned and they are all the Nations Secondly They Guilt which is fastened upon those Subjects as the Ground and Foundation of that Punishment and that is forgetting of God For the First The Subjects of this Punishment here mentioned They are all Nations Those if they prove to be wicked they shall not escape the Judgment of God Neither their Wealth nor Strength nor Power nor Multitude shall in this life be and security to them Why do the Heathen rage and the People imagine a vain thing saith the Psalmist Thou shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to peices like a Potter vessel Psal 21.9 In Jer. 25.17 It is said That all the Nations were made to drink of the cup of Gods fury And in other places we also read of the Destruction and Desolation of all Nations So as these as well as particular persons are concerned and involved in it And there 's a twofold Ground for it The one is the Great and Almighty Power of God And the other is the Great and Vehement Importunity of sin First Gods Peace and Omnipotency When we consider what the Lord himself is in his
of the Admonition it self saying This is the way walk ye in it Now this in a Suitableness and Correspondency to what went before may be taken three manner of ways and may seem to carry a threefold Impression upon it First As a word of Correction and Reformation in case of Miscarriage This is the way walk ye in it It is very fitly said to those which wander and are out of the way to reduce them and to bring them again into it Secondly As a word of Direction and Instruction in case of Ignorance This is the way walk ye in it It is very properly said to those which are to seek and know not what to betake themselves to nor which way to turn them to shew it and to chalk it out to them Thirdly It is a word of Strengthening and Confirmation in case of Unsettledness This is the way walk ye in it It is very suitably said to those who are doubtful and wavering and uncertain in themselves whether they be right in the way or no to encourage them to persevere and go on in those good Ways which they have made entrance upon All these Emphasis are in this Expression First I say It is a word of Correction and Reformation in case of Miscarriage This is the way walk ye in it It is very fitly said to those which wander and are out of the way to reduce them and to bring them into the way again And to them it is said God doth not only by his Word but by his Spirit admonish them of the evil Courses which they are in and turn them from them That Way which you are in is not that wherein you should walk No it is this and therefore walk ye in it Thus we have it in Ezek. 33.11 Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel The Lord calls upon men dayly to Repentance and Amendment and Reformation of their Lives Not only in the way of his Providence and the things which he does in the World as Grounds and Motives to them for it but likewise in the Work of the Ministry and the stirrings of his Spirit in the heart as enforcing those Occasions upon them This he does as we may conceive especially upon a twofold Consideration First Out of Mercy to them that so by this means he might at last recover them God delight not in the death of a sinner as he hath said and sworn about it It is no pleasure to him that men should sin and live wickedly and damn their Souls He desires rather their Amendment and Salvation And because indeed he does so therefore as a means tending hereunto does he admonish them and check them upon their Miscarriages and Goings astray Secondly In Judgment and Aggravation against them that so hereby he may leave them inexcusable and that they may have nothing to say for themselves that they may not plead they wanted memory that they had no body to rectifie them and set them right He himself does therefore undertake to do it for them They shall hear a word behind them saying this is the way walk ye in it It is a word of Correction and Reformation to them in case of Miscarriage And that is the first Emphasis or Impressions which is upon it wherein we may consider it Secondly It is a word of Direction and Instruction in case of Ignorance This is the way walk ye in it It is very properly said to those which are to seek and know not which way to turn themselves And to them also is it said especially so far forth as they do any thing seek unto him and depend upon him for it Those which desire Direction from God in those Ways which are to be taken by them they shall receive Direction from him The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way Psal 25.9 This is true and may be made good unto us according to a double Explication whether we take it in reference to Civil things and the Affairs of this present Life Or whether we take it in reference to Spirituals and things of a better First Take it in reference to Civil things and the Affairs of this present Life So there are very Gracious Hints which are sometimes given to the Servants of God for their direction in this particular In Businesses of any great Concernment and Moment and Importance to them where they are ignorant and know not what to do it pleases him to advise them This is the way walk ye in it And they may very well satisfie themselves in this respect when it is so with them Though it be that which is not chiefly intended here in the Text yet it is not excluded and therefore we may very seasonably observe it and take notice of it Secondly In reference to Spirituals and the Affairs of a better life Here those that wait upon him shall not want Direction from him but he will advise them and by counselling to them For which purpose they do with a great deal of confidence betake themselves to him as the Prophet David says in sundry places Thus in Psal 25.4 5. Shew me thy ways O Lord and teach me thy paths Lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day So again Psal 86.11 Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth make my heart to fear thy name So again Psal 143.8 Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning for in thee do I put my trust cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee Now in answer to such Prayers and Requests as these are does the Lord accordingly very graciously instruct them and give direction to them And they shall hear a word behind them saying this is the way walk ye in it That is Secondly A word of Direction and Instruction in case of Ignorance Thirdly It is a word of Confirmation in case of Unsettledness This is the way walk ye in it It is spoken very suitable to those which are somewhat doubtful whether they be in the way or no by way of Encouragement God will Graciously provide for the Settlement and Constancy and Perseverance of his People that they may not depart of start aside from him And this is another kind of Word which is as useful and necessary as the other We have not more need to be diverted from those ways which are evil and to be directed to those which are good then when we are in good wayes already to be settled and confirm'd in them that we do not forsake and leave them This is that which is in this Supplication Least that which is lame be not turned out of the way but that it rather be healed as it is in Heb. 12.13 There 's hardly any can be in a good way but as soon as ever they
of the strength of Beleivers in general Secondly A Particular Demonstration of this Proposition taken from the Consequences and Effects The Proposition in General That ye have in these words They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength The Demonstration of this Proposition in the Particular Ye have in these words They shall mount up with eagles wings they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint We begin with the first viz. The General Proposition They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength Wherein again we have two Branches more First The Persons spoken of and they are Those which wait upon the Lord. Secondly The thing it self which is spoken of them and that is that They shall renew their strength For the First The Persons mentioned or spoken of they are Those that wait upon the Lord. This is here made the Description of God's People of Believers the Saints and Servants of God They are such as wait upon God This is a Duty often called for in Scripture and so considerable a Duty it is as that thereby the whole Race of Godly Men is expressed and signified to us As if there were nothing else almost which were pertinent hereunto but that It is a Phrase which we often meet with in Scripture to this purpose Thus Psal 25.3 Let none that wait on thee be ashamed Isa 30.18 Blessed are all they that wait for him So again Lamen 3.25 The Lord is good to them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him Where they that wait for him and that seek him are all one both Descriptions of his Children There are two things eminent in Waiting and so in Waiting upon God Expectation and Patience There is Looking for somewhat from him And there is a quiet Resting and Tarrying till it be bestowed And both Properties of true Believers First There is Expectation from God there is Looking for somewhat from him to be bestowed upon them This is always in the Servants of God Psal 123.2 Behold as the eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Master and as the eyes of an handmaid looks unto the hands of her Mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy c. All Good Christians they do certainly expect somewhat from the hands of God and that which is worth the expecting Even glory and honour and immortality and eternal life as we have it exprest unto us Rom. 2.7 Other matters there are which they do sometimes look for and very well may but these things they look for especially as their reward and their portion and their inheritance and such as may not be denyed them They wait for these absolutely Secondly As they have the Waiting of Expectation so they have likewise of Patience They are content to stay Gods time and leisure for the obtaining of any thing which they look for and expect from him He that believeth maketh not hast Isa 28.16 He doth not prevent or out-run God in HIs Providence towards him but stayes till he thinks fitting to help him This is the right Temper of a true Christian and Believer Prophane and desperate persons they flye off in a discontent and impatience like that wicked king Jehorum 2 King 6 ult Why should I wait on the Lord any longer but his people they wait for him and they are contented so to do The Reason of it is because they are sure to speed at last There 's none that wait upon God shall be ashamed that is shall be disappointed which is many times the cause of shame As we see sometimes in waiting upon the Creature in waiting upon vain men As we have it exprest unto us in Job 6.19 20. The Troops of Tema looked the Companies of Sheba waited for them They were confounded because they had hoped they came thither c. thus it falls out in waiting upon such as these but now in waiting upon the Lord it is otherwise They that wait upon him they shall be sure not to want success Nay They shall speed the better for waiting there 's that also considerable The more willing we are to wait upon God the better it is for us for He he payes for time and gives us the more because we have waited This the servants of God considering are therefore content to wait and that with patience Thus David Psal 40.1 I waited patiently for the Lord or as it is in the Hebrew Text. I waited in waiting But so much briefly of the first branch of the first General viz. The Persons here mentioned Believers They that wait upon the Lord. The Second which I chiefly aym at in this Text is what is said of them and that is they shall renew their strength By strength here we are to understand spiritual strength strength in reference to Religion and Christian Conversation That 's the strength which is here pointed at in this place by the prophet Isay And when is is said they shall renew it there are three things intimated to us in this Expression First Their Duty Secondly Their Disposition Thirdly Their Priviledge Their Duty they ought to do it Their Disposition they are ready to do it Their Priviledge they may do it or 't is that which shall actually and indeed happen unto them First Here 's their Duty they ought to do it this is that which which lyes upon a Christian as a Duty belonging unto him to improve still in spiritual strength every day to grow stronger and stronger in his inward man To go from strength to strength as it is Psal 84.7 This is that which the Scripture still calls for as Ephesi 6.10 Finally brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might And Colos 1.10 11. Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might in the inward man A Christian must be like a tree not only growing to bear more fruit but also growing to more strength We need a great deal of strength not onely to overcome our own weaknesses but also to bear with the weaknesses of other men Whiles we are here required to renew our strength there are two things which may be pointed out to us in this Expression First Recovery of strength there where it is in some measure lost and abated in us To renew it that is to regain it to require it and fetch it up again after some diminution Secondly The Improvement of strength to renew it that is to increase it and to add new strength unto it Each of these are here imployed and both to be practised by us in reference to our Christian Conversation we must renew our strength to each purpose First In a way of Recovery we must renew it that is repair it Those which have lost any measure and degree of Grace which they have formerly had they must indeavour to restore it again It is an ill thing for a
and yet to draw near to God in his Services and Religious Performances it is a matter of very high aggravation Therefore it is that we shall find God not onely here in this Text but also in divers others besides to contest with them for it as Isa 1.11 12. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord c. When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands Incense is an abomination I cannot away with it your feasts and your sabbaths c. they are a trouble unto me I cannot bear them And so Isa 66.3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man c. He that burneth incense as if he blest an idol c. So again Psal 50.16 17. Vnto the wicked saith God What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or to take my covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castests my words behind thee The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord especially if he bring it with an evilmind The Lord will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him This is that which he hath said Levit. 10.3 Therefore in that place before in Esay he bids them wash them make them clean put away the evil of their doings from before their eyes ere they presumed to come into his presence To open this passage a little further and to speak distinctly of it This Question here in the conjunction of both parts together Will ye steal and murther c and yet will ye come and stand c It hath a two-fold intimation with it the one as an aggravation of their sinfulness and the other as an aggravation of their danger Will ye do it that is Will ye be so vile as to do it And Will ye do it that is Will ye be so bold as to do it There is each of these which is here intimated and intended in this Expostulation First Here 's an aggravation of their sinfulness Will ye do it that is Will ye be so vile There is a great deal of vileness and wickedness and sinfulness in such courses as these are for men to come into the presence of God and to draw near to him in Religious Performances whiles they allow themselves in their sinful lusts there 's irreverence and contempt of God and an argument of low conceits and apprehensions of him That men first think that any thing is good enough for him and then that they think that he will be content with any thing and easily put off with it there 's a trespassing upon God in his Majesty and there is a suspition of God in his Wisdom than which two taken together what can be more vile or abominable First There is a trespass upon God in his Majesty there 's irreverence and contempt of him that 's most clear and evident The higher apprehensions that men have of any one's person the more regardful are they of their carriage when they come before him If a man shall come into the presence of a Prince and carry himself rudely before him it is a sign he has no very great thoughts or esteems of him for if he had he would carry it otherwise to him And so it is here as to the presence of God when men shall come before him with base and false and naughty and deceitful hearts it is an argument they do not much regard him but think that any carriage indeed is good enough for him Secondly It is a trespass also upon his Wisdom and that strictness and severity that is in him they think he 'll be pleas'd with any thing and that any thing will serve his turn they think to flatter him and to satisfie him with some fair pretences and that 's all They think that he does not see and take notice of that naughtiness which is in them all this while they think he approves of it and so makes him a partaker with themselves And therefore the Lord in such cases he does commonly deal with them upon this point by shewing them that they are exceedingly mistaken in so imagining as we may see in Mal. 1.7 9. Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar and ye say Wherein have we polluted thee In that ye say The table of the Lord is contemptible And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil And if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil Offer it now unto thy governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of hosts Take but any man whatsoever and let one give him onely fair words and complements and some outward good carriage and yet in the mean time endeavour to ruine him and destroy him and undermine him and will he take it well from him What is it for any one to stand bare in the presence of a Governour and yet in the mean time to break his Laws and to have no regard to the Precepts or Edicts which are set forth by him And so is it here as to God for men to approach to his Ordinances and yet to despise his Commandments to come into his House and yet to steal and kill c. What is this but to juggle with him and to question his Wisdom if they think he can be satisfi'd with it Should I accept this at your hands No saith God I will not it is a great mistake to conceive it I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts c. Therefore secondly as here is an hint and intimation of greater sins in this Question Will ye do it that is will ye be so vile so there is likewise an intimation of greater danger Will ye do it that is Dare ye be so bold do ye consider the hazard which ye run upon in so doing There is certanly a great deal of hazard and danger in such ways as these For men to allow themselves in wicked courses and yet to please themselves in the outward performance of Religious Exercises it is a very great venture in them There are three sorts of Judgments which are commonly consequent and following hereupon namely Spiritual and Temporal and Eternal We may take notice of them all First Spiritual Judgments there is oftentimes an infliction of these upon such occasions When men come to the Ordinances in their sins they are from hence now and then more hardned and confirm'd in them than they were before and their lusts do for the most part gain and get ground upon them their fraud and their malice and their uncleanness and such as these they are so much the more improved unto them Look as meat to a stomach that is foul it destroys it but in a stomach that is clean it nourishes it so the Ordinances when men come to them with good affections they strengthen their Graces but when they come with deceitful hearts they increase their corruptions Secondly Temporal Judgments in sicknesses
dispensations towards the Sons of Men and especially to his own people We have here intimated to us in this passage that care which God takes of his Church which he sometimes calls his Vineyard to provide all things necessary for it especially as are essential to it and within the compass of it self Means of Illumination and Instruction and means of Fructification and Increase and oftentimes does wonderfully work in his providence for it keeping it and defending it from enemies and preserving it from outward dangers and destruction that so this expression in the Text may be in a manner all one with that in another place Isa 5.4 What could I have done more unto my Vineyard that I have not done unto it And it agrees also with that in another in Isa 27.22 In that day sing ye unto her A Vineyard of Red Wine I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment Lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day And so of Sion which is all one I will abundantly bless her provision I will satisfie her pâ—or with bread I will also cloath her Priests with salvation and her Saints shall shout aloud for joy in Psal 132.15 16. As for Israel which his here mentioned in the Text that particular People and Nation the Scripture does sufficiently inform us of the overflowings of God's kindness towards them in all kind of blessings This is a Point so far to be emproved as the truth of it is to be observed and taken notice of by all those who have a share in it in a way of due thankfulness and acknowledgment The more that God does for any people the more does he expect from them in a way of retribution to him Their thankfulness is to be answerable to his mercies and their obedience is to be answerable to their thankfulness and an expression of it It is that which God expects from them and accordingly they are not to be failing or defective in it when-ever they prove to be so they walk unsuitably to his dealings with them That 's the second Emphasis also of this expression as it hath with it the force of a remembrance or sensible intimation The Third is as it hath the force of a secret Gird or Exprobration Have I been a wilderness unto Israel that is Has not Israel been rather a wilderness to me And so it serves to represent to us the unfruitfulness oftentimes of God's people notwithstanding his manifold waterings and irrigations of them and expectations from them as not making answerable returns to his goodness towards them This is that which the Lord often complains of as we shall â—ind if we look into Scripture Thus in ver 21 of this present Chapter I had planted thee a noble Vine wholly a right seed how art thou turn'd into the degenerate plant of a strange Vine unto me And so Isa 5.4 Wherefore when I looked that my Vineyard should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes I looked for judgment but behold oppression for righteousness but behold a cry This is that which oftentimes falls out thus to be From whence we may observe thus much that God's people are still behind-hand in their observances of him It is not he that is obnoxious to them but they rather to him It is is not he that is chargable with unfruitfulness or unprofitableness but rather they Therefore let them accordingly reflect and enter into themselves and consider how it is with them and be confounded and troubled for it It is the reason why God is pleased to use such expressions as these to them that so thereby he might the better affect them and work upon them and convince them of their uneven carriage and behaviour towards him That whiles he loaded them with mercies they loaded him with provocations made him to serve with their sins and wearied him with their iniquities Isa 43.24 There are three things especially which do much aggravate the unfruitfulness of God's people First the mercies which they enjoy Secondly the means which they partake of Thirdly the expectations which are upon them and that even from God himself First the mercies which they enjoy This is that which God does very much stand upon and frequently urges all-along in Scripture that he has done thus and thus for them and yet they have made no more answerable returns unto him but rather the contrary This is a very great evil and so to be accounted for if mercy and kindness will not work upon us what will Despisest thou the riches of God's goodness c. says the Apostle Rom. 2.4 Secondly the means they partake of there is very much also in that seeing God has not been a wilderness to them they should not certainly be so to him But forasmuch as he affords them means of better improvement they should be careful to improve under those means We know what was said of Capernaum and Chorazin and Bethsaida that if the mighty works which had been done in them had been done in Sodom and Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long before in sackcloth and ashes therefore it should be easier for those places at the day of judgment than it should be for those Cities Matth. 11.22 Thirdly the expectations which are upon them and that even from God himself This is spoken after the manner of men and as the Lord after an humane manner expresses himself to them Not that God can properly be frustrated of his expectations or have any thing to fall out otherwise than as he thought it would do â—ut the meaning of it is this that there was occasion given to him to expect it from the connexion of things one with another and their subordination one to another and their contrary carriage was therefore an aggravation of their sin All this laid together serves to make us to look to our selves in this particular It is a sad thing for any to be under the upbraidings of the Almighty that he should have any thing against them which he might justly charge them with in a way of unworthy carriage or behaviour towards him as having not only reproach but danger in it They may charge him to be a Wilderness and a Land of Darkness to them and wrong him in so doing by doing it unjustly and without a cause but where-ever he charges them to be a Wilderness and a Land of Darkness to himself as he seems here to do in the Text after a tacit and implicit manner there is some cause and ground for it and where it is so it is there inexcusable And that 's also the third Emphasis of this expression as it hath the force of a Revelation or secret Exprobation Have I been a wilderness as my people have indeed been to me The Fourth and last is as it hath the force of an appeal and provocation as it were to themselves and their own consciences Have I been c. that is let Israel
them so far they cannot away with it but do depart from it This is the reason why they many times apostatize and fall away because as the stony ground in the Gospel they want root which as long as they do such things will not stay with them especially in any time of trouble or persecution arising for the Word A speculative Christian is a very uncertain Christian such an one of whom there is no hold but who does presently start aside from that way in which he is These are such as the world does frequently swarm and abound withall which know God but care not to fear him nor to have their affections towards him answerable to their knowledge of him Secondly Purpose and Resolution without Practlse that 's another cake not turn'd There are many which promise and purpose and resolve and profess much but they perform little When they lie upon their beds of sickness or are in any distress of conscience Oh what great matters they will do all on the sudden but when it comes to the practise and performance here they fail Such a kind of Cake was Pharaoh when the Plagues of God were upon him Oh then he would let the people go yea that he would but when they were off him he then return'd to his wonted humour again and was as bad if not worse as ever he was before This is that now which we are to be careful of good purposes are good and such as we are to cherish in our selves all that may be but we are not to rest and satisfic our selves in them but to proceed to the practise of that good which we resolve upon Thirdly The practise of some things but the neglect and omission of others that 's another of the same nature As Herod he heard John Baptist gladly and it is said he did many things but he did not all nor did not care to do them here was a cake not turn'd and such are many more else they do limit and restrain and confine themselves in matter of Religion in point of Faith they are willing to believe God in some things but not in others to trust him for their Souls but not to trust him for their outward man to trust him for themselves but not to trust him for their children and posterity In point of obedience they will to do some things but not others abstain from some sin but not abstain from all perform some duties but omit the rest pray in the morning but not in the evening come to Church some part of the day but not the other serve God so far forth as may consist with their own humours and distempers but when it comes to cross these here they take their leave of him As Naaman The Lord be merciful to me in this they must be dispenst with in it Now this not excluding the former seems to be that which is here principally intended the partial and imperfect Reformation which was in Ephraim whether as considerable in the whole State and Nation or in private particular persons which were members of it that they did not turn to the Lord with all their heart which is the very proper and direct constitution of these very times in which we live we are content to amend somewhat to reform in some particulars but for others to favour our selves Now we must know that this will not serve the turn in our dealings with God he will have all or none at all Thou that abhorrest idols dost thou commit sacriledge as it is in Rom. 2.22 and so it may be said of any other like course besides which is suitable and agreeable thereunto This Cake which is but half-baked it is such as God cannot away with his stomack loathes and abhors it And that 's another Explication Lastly It is an expression of Extravagancy and the following of two extremes A Cake wich is not turn'd it has not onely the notion of a defect and imperfection in it but likewise of a double miscarriage on either hand it is not onely partly good and partly evil but indeed it is strictly neither for it is burnt on one side and dough on the other And here is now another description to us of the state of many people in reference to Religion that have this temper and disposition in them some are crusted into ignorance and others crumbled into schism and great factions and variety of opinions to be still in some extreme or other which they do tend and incline unto and know no mean between Some are scorch'd with new-fangledness and others are dough with profaneness and they cannot avoid the one unless they fall into the other either fond and conceited in Religion or else have no Religion in them at all Better be absolute Heathens than such kind of Christians as are neither hot nor cold That therefore which lies upon us is to take care of our selves in these particulars which we have now mention'd we should labour to be through-Christians in all the points and parts of Christianity to serve God with all our minds and with all our Soul and with all our heart and with all our strength to be that which we profess to be sincerely and resolutely and in good earnest and to some purpose indeed This is that which is here required of us And to set it on the more effectually upon us let us consider thus much that hereby we shall the better provide for our own happiness for he which is but half-converted shall be but half-saved that is in truth not saved at all So much for that to wit the words as an amplification of their sin Ephraim is a Cake not turned The second is as it is an aggravation of their punishment Ephraim is a Cake not turn'd it shews that sad condition which this people were now in in regard of their Enemies who were ready presently to swallow and devour them Look as a man which is throughly hungry he is so impatient of further delay as that he snatches a Cake from the hearth before it be baked even so does the Prophet here signifie that Israel's Enemies should do with them they should be so eager and fierce upon them and greedy after them as that they should snap them up all on a sudden without any warning This is another sense and explication which we may well fasten upon this Expression Yet I shall not insist upon it as adhereing rather to that which we named and handled before Ephraim is a Cake not turn'd in regard of Judgment which shall suddenly follow and surprize them and it shews as I said the impatience of their adversaties in setting upon them which will not stay nor give them any respite before they destroy them The Syrians before and the Philistines behind and they shall devour Israel with open mouth as it is in Isa 9.12 that is suddenly and totally without mercy For the better and fuller explicating of this present passage unto us
in Hell it self and be tormented before their time Thus is it against our selves Secondly it is also most against God of any thing else Despair it is the sin which does oppose him in his main design and project in the promulgation of the Gospel What 's God's design in the Gospel and the promulgation of it it is to advance the free riches of his Grace and mercy in his Son Jesus Christ to set forth the exceeding bowels of his love in him 1 Tim. 1.14 Now Despair and saying There is no hope it quashes this and makes this of none effect at all All this laid together should I say take us off from this desperate disposition and teach us to trust perfectly to the grace that is brought unto us by Jesus Christ as the Apostle Peter advises us 1 Pet. 1.13 We should believe the Promises of the Gospel which are made to poor sinners upon their Repentance and turning to God and draw out the comfort of them to our selves as we have occasion for them and never suffer our selves to be undone and to perish eternally with saying There is no hope as the desperate wretches in the Text are imply'd to do That 's the third sense of the Expression as it refers to God in calling to question his Goodness and Truth And so I have done with the first General part of the Text which I propounded to be considered viz. The Desperate Conclusion There is no hope The Second is the Peremptory Resolution or Determination taken up thereupon in these words But we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart Which passage is considerable of us two manner of waies First of all simply and absolutely in the thing it self Secondly Reflexively or Derivatively as coming from these particular persons First Take it simply and absolutely in the thing it self This is that which is here declared by these people That they will walk after their own devices c. In which expression there are divers things considerable First as implyed That the nature of man is very prone and subject to devices This is that which is here implyed and supposed your own Devices And it is agreeable to other places of Scripture as Eccles 7.20 God made man righteous but they have sought out many inventions So Prov. 19.21 Many devices are in the heart of a man nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand Devices and many Devices This is that which the nature of man is very subject unto Full of projects and devices and contrivances which they apply themselves to By Devices we are to understand evil Devices especially such Devices as tend to evil and to the promoting of it These are the Devices and Imaginations which are here meant Mans brain it is fruitful and copious And being by nature sinful and corrupt is from hence fruitful in evil and copious in devising and contriving of that which is naught every imagination or purpose and desire Col jesser the whole frame of the thoughts of his heart is only evil and that continually or every day Col ha-jom as the Lord himself declares concerning it speaking of it in Gen. 6.5 This is the difference betwixt the servants of God and other men When a man begins once to be good and to have his heart changed by grace and to become a new creature his thoughts and contrivances and devices are from hence tending to Goodness The liberal man deviseth liberal things and by liberal things he shall stand Isa 33.8 But till this good work be wrought in him he has other devices with him as it is here also exprest in ver 6 7. His heart will work iniquity And he deviseth wicked devices c. Thus it is said of the Gentiles among other sins which were raigning in them That they were inventers of evil things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.30 They were not content to take evil as they found it as it was offered and brought to their hands No but moreover they invented it and found it out and studied to do so This is that which we should all in a special manner be wary of If we will needs devise let us devise how to be good and how to be better how to be more useful and serviceable in the places wherein God has set us how now to promote his glory and to advance our own salvation and the salvation of others with whom we live These are things which are worth our thoughts and which deserve to be devised by us But as for evil and wicked devices it becomes us to be far from them whether considered as men or as Christians and who have the Image of God stampt upon us Our wits should be used to better purpose as being ordained to a better End in the first conferring and bestowing of them upon us But that 's that which we may here first observe from this expression in the Text That mans nature is prone to these devices as that which is implyed and supposed Now further there is here also exprest the Affection which is in many people in reference hereunto We will walk c. And here are divers things one after another First Their obstinacy and perverseness We will walk after our own devices c. This is that which is observable in the disposition of carnal men even a peremptoriness and wilfulness of Resolution Whatever can be said to them they are resolved and determined in themselves to do that which is evil This was the case of this people And so it is of many more of the same mind with them They are still roving in the world Thus in that place before cited Jer. 44.17 We will certainly do whatever goeth forth out of our own mouth And so the place cited before in this Book Jer. 2.25 Thou saidst There is no hope no for I have loved strangers and after them I will go As who should say none shall restrain us This is a sure Rule in matter of evil That the more there is of the Will in it so much the greater sin And thus it was here in this place These people they do not plead ignorance nor they do not excuse themselves as they did in the Gospel for their not coming to the marriage-supper from such and such hinderances and avocations no but they understood themsleves well enough and yet would venture upon it There was malice and wilfulness in them They would do evil because they would do it This is that I say which is observable in many more and that from these Causes First From the Connaturalness which is betwixt them and their lusts Thus lusts are seemingly sweet and pleasing to them and therefore they are bent upon them and will not by any means be withdrawn or taken off from them but are carried after them with a great deal of violence and importunity of spirit Thus in Jer. 8.6 No man repented him of his
onely see that such things are done but also see the great evil in doing them and the mischief that will likely follow upon them Thirdly Let us get into our hearts the love of God and a tenderness of his Honour We that love the Lord hate evil says the Psalmist in Psal 97.10 The more we take delight in him the more we shall lament any thing that is opposite and contrary to him as I in part hinted before Those that can see sin and not bewail it or 〈◊〉 affected with it they shew that they have not the love of God in them as our Saviour says of the Jews Joh. 5.42 The way then to attain to the one is to labour for the other That we may cry for these abominations get in us this love of God To perswade us so much the rather hereunto let us but consider the great benefit which hereby is likely to come to us as it is here set before us Even to have a mark set upon our foreheads and to be kept from the stroke of the destroying Angel in the midst of Jerusalem We would all of us fain be priviledged and secured in these dangerous times of infection and common contagion Now therefore let us not neglect the means and course which God has prescribed for it let us every one humble our selves seriously in his sight because of our own and others sins and do all we can for the amendment and reforming of our lives If we will not do it now when will we do it Now that the wrath of God is from Heaven revealed against us and does vent it self as we see it does amongst us Oh Beloved I beseech you by all means let us now labour to get an interest in Christ and to be reconciled to God through him that so he may set his mark of favour and protection upon us in the evil day and may say These are mine whom I own and take especial care of Especially that he may mark us out for salvation and eternal life what-ever becomes of us here The foundation of the Lord standeth sure and he knows them that are his and will know them effectually and distinctly own them from all other men It is a sad and miserable case for any one to be out of Christ at any time even in the best and healthfullest times that are and when the Land is clearest and freest from judgments or the appearances of them But what to be out of Christ now and not to have his stamp and impression upon us at such a time as this is in a plague and a time of common mortality What a fearful what a desperate thing is this Who that rightly considers of any thing would wilfully suffer himself to continue in such a condition No but rather make all the haste that may be to know him and to close with him and to lie down before him Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish out of the way If his wrath be kindled yea but a little Blessed are all they that trust in him Psal 2.12 As for this business of mourning and lamenting of sin in particular we have so much the greater cause to apply our selves to it as God is willing to accept it at our hands Who would not then be safe where a little crying yea sighing would save him being done in truth and sincerity as it is here intimated that it will do Had we not better cry for sin than cry for punishment Cry by way of prevenâ—â—on than cry then when-as all the crying we can make will do us no good Oh let us learn to be wise betime and to close with the first occasions and opportunities of mercy Where we cannot do what we would do let us do what we can There are many abominations abroad in the world that it may be we cannot remove them yea but yet for all that we can bewail them we can lament them and mourn for them and that at least is required of us and to be performed by us It is the great goodness of God to his poor servants that he takes delight in the reality of their affections and good desires where they have nothing more in their power and counts them not so much by what they are as what they would be Where they strive against sin they would be Where they strive against sin they want it where they hate it they are free from it where they grieve and mourn for it they are freed from the imputations of it And why should we not then all that may be endeavour to nourish and cherish such affections as these in our hearts Seeing God himself has such regard to the persons in whom they are we our selvâ—â— should not be wanting to them in these occasions which are now upon us but desire the Lord himself who alone is able to do it to bestow them and work them in us who bestows the spirit of mourning and lamentation upon whom he pleases So much may satisfie to have spoken of the second General part of the Text and so of the whole Text it self in the words which I have now explained Go through the midst of the City c. and set a mark upon the forehead of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof SERMON L. AMOS 5.18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord To what end is it for you The day of the Lord is darkness and not light It is the manner and practice of carnal and presumptuous persons either to expect an absolute freedom and exemption from the judgments of God for coming upon them or else at least very much to mitigate and extenuate those judgments to themselves for their suffering of them That is either to nullify the day of the Lord in hope to escape it or else to mollify the day of the Lord in hope to endure it Now accordingly does there a double work lye upon the Servants of God the Prophets and Ministers of the Church in the course of their Ministry in order to the suppressing and subduing of this presumption in them The one is to declare the certainty of this day as unavoidable And the other is to declare the misery of this day as unsupportable The former was that which we have had exhibited to us the last day out of these words of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail c. and they shall not escape it There we have the day of the Lord in its certainty and unavoidableness The latter is that which we have now before us at this present time in the words of the Prophet Amos to the people of Israel Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord To what end is it for you The day of the Lord is darkness and not light And here now we have the day of the Lord
in its severity and unsupportableness IN the Text it self there are three general Parts considerable First an awakening Commination Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord. Secondly a convincing Expostulation To what end is it for you Thirdly an express Conclusion or Determination The day of the Lord is darkness and not light We begin with the first of these Parts viz. The Commination in these words Woe unto you c. In which passage there are two terms to be explain'd by us First what is here meant by the day of the Lord. Secondly what is here meant by the desiring of this day of the Lord which is here censured and threaten'd in this people For the former the day of the Lord Jom Jehovah it may be here reduced to a threefold explication First to the day of death or personal dissolution Secondly to the day of captivity or National dissolution Thirdly to the day of Judgment or general Account Each of these are the day of the Lord and may promiscuously one with the other be understood of us here in this Scripture Now Secondly for the other term which is the desiring of this day and as it is here censured and threaten'd in this people this it may be taken three manner of ways First for their desiring of it rashly because they did not consider it Secondly for their desiring it scoffingly because they did not believe it Thirdly for their desiring it desperately because they did not fear it All these kinds of desire in reference to this day of the Lord in either of the fore-mentioned considerations are here condemned in them First Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord that is that desire it rashly and foolishly because ye do not consider it Such desires as these of this day there are sometimes to be found in the world whether in reference to death and judgment or in reference to common and publick calamity First take it in reference to death and judgment There are divers persons sometimes which we meet withal who do seem very much to desire the day of the Lord in this sense though in the mean time if they duly consider it they have little cause or ground to do so Such as Job sometimes speaks of that long for death whiles it cometh not and dig for as more than for hid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave Job 3.21 22. Indeed there is a desire of such a day as this which in the right constitution of it is very noble and commendable and is sometimes made the character of the true servants of God to breathe after death and departure out of the world and to wait and long for the coming of Christ to Judgment Thus old Simeon when he had seen Christ come in the flesh and now had him in his arms he sings his nunc dimittas Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Luke 2.29 30. And St. Paul he desired to depart and to be with Christ as in it self much better than to abide here in the flesh Phil. 1.23 And the Prophet Elijah as some interpret it out of an holy zeal he cryes out It is enough now Lord take away my life first for I am not better than my Fathers 1 King 19.4 Thus have the servants of God sometimes desired the day of the Lord as it concerned their own death and dissolution And this desire of theirs has been looked upon as very warrantable and commendable in them So likewise as it has concerned the last and general day of account they have desired this day of the Lord also And it hath been remarkable in them so to do Look as it was the character of the Servants of God in the days before Christ to desire and wait for his first coming his coming in the flesh Therefore Abraham is said to have seen his day and to have rejoyced and Simeon before-mentioned to have waited for the consolation of Israel So it is also now the character of God's servants in these days since Christ to desire and wait for his second coming his coming to Judgment These are compared to faithful Servants that wait for the coming of their Master and that with desire Thus Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say come come Lord Jesus come quickly And the souls under the Altar they hasten his coming also Rev. 6.10 How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth Rev. 6.10 So St. Paul tells us that Christ will give a Crown of righteousness to him and not unto him only but also to all them that love and desire his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 So that it seems such persons as these are there have sometimes been and are still in the world which do desire this day of the Lord and that as having no woe belonging to them neither for so doing but rather the contrary which have not been threaten'd but rather encouraged for such desires as have been in them to this purpose But yet these here in the Text they have a woe denoune'd against them for their desire of the day of the Lord and so have many others besides as those who desire it rashly and foolishly as not considering for what end they do so We may reduce it for methods sake to three Heads First from discontentedness in their own condition Secondly from presumption of their own innocency Thirdly from ignorance or misapprehension of the nature of the thing it self These people here in the Text they seemed to desire the day of the Lord thus and so are condemn'd and declared against for their desiring of it as that which is unwarrantable and unjustifiable for any to do so First They desired the day of the Lord that is the day either of death or judgment and in particular of their own personal and present departure out of a principle of discontentedness in their own conditions Because they had not all things to their mind and just as they would have therefore forsooth they would presently be gone and leave the world they wish for death and departure hence out of a spirit of impatience Thus it hath been sometimes even with some of God's Servants themselves when he has left them to themselves such fits of distemper as these have now and then discovered themselves in them Thus some have suspected it of Elijah in the place before alledged when he prayed to God to take him out of this present life it was out of the rediousness which he did conceive from Ahab and Jezebel's persecutions So Job though at other times noted for his admirable patience yet for the time he was surprized with this distemper Chap. 6.8 9. Oh that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let
loose his hand and cut me off And so the Prophet Jonah because his message was crost which he had delivered concerning Nineveh therefore he desires to live no longer in the world Therefore now O Lord says he I beseech thee take away my life from me for it is better for me than to live in Jonah 4.3 In others of worse principles it is commonly more frequent and ordinary but it is such as is very grievous and dangerous in them Those that with for death lightly and rashly and discontentedly they know not what they wish for as having not leisure to recollect themselves To wish for it as an opportunity of nearer and fuller and closer communion with Christ and enjoyment of him as a cessation and period to sin as an exemption from temptation this is very good and praise worthy and such as the Scripture leads us unto But to wish for it out of murmuring and impatience and discontent it is no way allowable especially according to the circumstances which such persons may possibly be in which is of strangeness and unacquaintedness with God and unpreparedness for another world Oh! it is a mad thing indeed to desire death in such a case as this is let their condition here in the world be otherwise never so lamentable because that then they do change but out of one bad condition into another yea out of a less evil into a greater as it follows after in the next verse to the Text. As if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand upon the wall and a Serpent bit him such is the fruit of such desires as these And that 's one expression of this rash and unadvised desiring of the day of the Lord in those who do so desire it as proceeding from a principle of discontentedness in their own condition Secondly from a principle of presumption of their own innocence This is that which hypocrites sometimes do They seem to desire the day of the Lord as if they were ready in a manner to try it out with the Lord and to justify themselves at his Tribunal There are some persons that are so full of carnal confidence and conceited of their own righteousness as that they dare even to plead and contend with God himself and think to do well enough with him Such an one as this was that young man in the Gospel that said he had kept all God's Commandments from his youth upward and such an one also was the Pharisee that thanked God he was not like other men And such also were the people of the Jews that stood upon their own righteousness Now such as these might well have a woe to be denounc'd against them Woe unto him that strives with his maker as the Prophet Isaiah sometimes expresses it It was that which Job in all his innocency durst not do as himself professes Job 9.15 Whom though I were righteous yet would I not answer but would make supplication to my Judge This is that which these considerate persons will not vouchsafe to do but rather think to carry it out by the strength of their own deserts as having nothing which might be charged upon them Thirdly From a principle of ignorance of the nature of the thing it self They know not what death is in the properties and consequences of it nor they know not what judgment is in the strictness and severity of it And therefore it is that at a distance they think favourably both of the one and the other and seem as if they were desirous of them Which is a very sad case to be so Thus do they desire the day of the Lord without understanding either the day of death or general or particular judgment Again further Take this day of the Lord in the other sense for the day of captivity and National desolation as it may be also taken And so there is a woe likewise belonging to those which do desire it or at least which so carry themselves as if they were little affected with it Thus it was with some of the Jews at this present time they were so far from being humbled under the predictions and prognostications of this condition which was threaten'd to them as that they were in a manner at a point about it and did in some sort wish for it so it happens to be sometimes with divers others of the like temper and disposition with them They do sometimes according to the discontents which may be upon them wish for war and wish for calamity and wish for confusion it self as conceiving that such extremities may be some kind of help and relief unto them But alas they do not know what they wish for in so wishing Such desires as these are rash and unadvised in them and have a woe attending upon them as it is here exprest It is not safe to give way but to the first beginning and entring of Judgment because we know not where they will stop or stay when we once dye I have not desired the woful day thou knowest it as Jeremy speaks in another case So it concerns all persons in this case to be able to say in this particular Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord that is that desire it rashly or foolishly because ye do not consider it or attend to the circumstances of it That 's the first explication Secondly Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord that is that desire it scoffingly and scornfully because ye do not believe it This is another sense which may be founded upon this expression Desiring it in their mouthes but not in their hearts and so desiring that it might come as yet thinking it would not come and therefore mocking at the coming of it Such persons as these there are also sometimes in the world the Prophet Esay makes mention of them to us Isa 5.19 They say Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it Therefore as they laugh at the Day of the Lord so accordingly they laugh at the Word of the Lord and his Message concerning that day as the Prophet Jeremy has it in Jer. 17.15 Behold they say unto me Where is the word of the Lord let it come now That is Where is that which the Word of the Lord has so much threatned and spoken of as that which shall come to pass Not onely scoffing at Judgment it self but likewise at all the fore-runnings and monitions of it This is an high piece of wickedness and impiety indeed yet such as the sons of men are now and then subject unto Where they have not so much grace as to avoid Judgment they have at least so much vileness as to despise it and to make a mock and derision of it and of those that proclaim it They desire it
wantonly and they desire sawcily and they desire it perversly as it seems here to be intended Well but what 's the lot and condition of such kind of Persons Here 's a Woe denounced against them as signifying them to be miserable creatures and such as are most deeply involv'd in Gods judgments of any others besides Those who to the rest of their wickedness add this of scoffing at Gods judgments either in this world or that which is to come they are such as are exposed to the greatest tuine and destruction that can be and whomsoever God spares else he will be sure not to spare them Now therefore be not Mockers lest your bands be made strong says he Isa 28.22 Surely he scorneth scorners Prov. 3.34 And those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed 2 Sam. 2.30 God will judge them though they scorn him and he will judge them because they scorn him their scorning it shall promote their condemnation and hasten that really which they desire should be hastned feignedly We see here there is nothing which the nature of man does commonly more abominate than contempt and how can we think then that the Lord himself will put it up How will he endure to be contemned either in himself or else in his Servants and not rather pour forth the fiercest of his wrath upon such kind of persons As he threatens there in that place Prov. 1.24 25 26. Because I have called and ye have refused I have stretched out mine hand and no man regarded But ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh As wicked men mock at Gods threatnings so he also mocks at their punishments and as they laugh at his intimations so he laughs at their destruction He that sits in heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision Psal 2.4 The Lord shall laugh at them because he sees their day is coming Psal 37. 13. Be not deceived says the Apostle God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Gal. 6.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not sneered at as the word properly signifies it is an expression of scorn which cannot be fastned upon God He is not mocked that is he is not mock'd effectually nor he is not mocked that is he is not mock'd securely mock'd he is in regard of mens endeavour he is mock'd on their part but he is not mock'd on his own part and in regard of the thing it self Those that mock him they do not escape or go away with their mockery of him This is a point which falls heavy upon the times in which we live from the great guilt which is in them in this particular in that there are so many people that make a scoff of the most serious things that are in the world that make no other use of the Word of the Lord than to despise it not of the Judgment of the Lord than to deny it nor of the day of the Lord than to deride it and to scoff at it which seem with these people here in the Text to desire indeed the day of the Lord but with a tang of Atheism and Profaneness putting it far from them at such time as they draw it near unto them drawing it near with their lips when-as their hearts in the mean time are far enough from it or rather drawing up the lip against it in a kind of scorn and detestation of it Well let all such as these look to it in time lest they hasten Gods judgments upon themselves a great deal sooner than themselves are aware of which such courses as these do tend to And that 's now the second explication of the passage here before us Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord that is that desire it scoffingly because ye do not believe it Thirdly Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord that is that desire it desperately because ye do not fear it And here now the word desire is to be taken in a qualified sense and not so much actively as passively Ye desire the day of the Lord that is ye care not though that day should be not that they did absolutely wish for it but out of an hardned and obdurate and desperate spirit which was in them they did not matter it though it were but were content to run the hazard of it This is another sense which we may likewise put upon this present expression There are some people who are so far addicted and given up to their lusts which do possess them and prevail upon them especially some kinds of them above the rest as Voluptuousness and Sensuality and Intemperance and love of the World that for the injoyment of them they care not what becomes of themselves but are content to venture even the loss of their Souls for ever which defie the judgments of God shoot up arrows of provocation against Heaven sell themselves to do wickedly commit all uncleanness with greediness and resolve to do whatever they have a mind to in despight of Hell it self yea even of God himself who threatens them with it which cry God damn them and let him do so it is all one to them These are sad and lamentable creatures as any alive monsters rather than men yet such as this latter age of the world hath more especially brought forth which accordingly may be taken notice of by us This woe here in the Text it reaches such as these especially in the fullest latitude and extent of it being such as of all others are most irrecoverable inasmuch as they cast away the means of recovery from them and choose death rather than life to be administred unto them Such as these they are in the nearest condition even to the Devils themselves and are in a manner even in Hell it self before their time from the beginnings and initiations of it And thus we have had the threefold explication of this present expression and a threefold wo which is here denounc'd against three sorts of persons Wo wo wo to such inhabitants of the earth To those that desire the day of the Lord rashly because they do not consider it And to those that desire the day of the Lord scoffingly because they do not believe it And to those that desire the day of the Lord desperately because they do not fear it To those which desire it either in jest or desire it in earnest which desire it in jest because they mistrust it and which desire it in earnest because they mistake it And so now I have done with the First General Part of the Text which is the awaking Commination in these words Wo unto you that c. The Second is the convincing Expostulation in these To what end is it for you Lamah-zeh lakem Ad quid hoc verbis And there are two things especially here in this First here
's a calling of them to an account for their desire What end have you for it Secondly it is a discovering to them the fruitlesness of their desire What good have you by it The former in the notion of an Expostulation The latter of a Conviction First To look upon it in the former notion and that is by way of Expostulation What end have you for it or in it namely in this desire of yours for the coming of the day of the Lord. The Prophet Amos here calls them to an account for this desire which was in them From whence there 's this general truth to be observed by us That our desires should be still such as are rational and well-grounded in us Those that desire any thing they should know for what end they desire it or else it should not be desired by them To what end is it for you says the Lord here to this people namely when he speaks here of something which was desired by them The reason of it is this Because we are rational our selves at least in our principles we are so as men but we 〈◊〉 â—o more especially as Christians and therefore should every thing be rational that comes from us Loose and unreasonable desires do not become reasonable creatures Those who have light in their understandings by nature and this also elevated and enlarged by Grace for the guiding and directing of them they should be very much ordered and regulated in this particular Therefore let us by the way learn from hence a good rule for our practice to this purpose We may not think that we may desire what we please indefinitely or without any restraint that quicquid libet licet that whatever we have a mind to it may be pursued by us no but we must rather first see what ground and reason we have in us for such desires and restrain and bound our selves by such arguments and considerations as these In all inordinacy of appetite or desires which rises up in us put to our selves this question which the Prophet Amos puts to this people To what end is it for you to desire it And this will be an happy means for the ordering and regulating of it Our desires and affections and inclinations they are such things as for which we are accountable both to God and our selves So much for that as this passage carries in it the force of an Expostulation To what end is it for you i.e. To what end is this desire for you The Second is as it has the force of a Conviction To what end is it for you that is To what end is this day for you which you seem to desire There 's no good or advantage at all which can come to such as you by it by laying an emphasis especially upon the persons And so there 's this in it That the day of the Lord however it may prove to others yet it is no way desirable of wicked and ungodly people and such persons as live in their sins For you says the Prophet that walk in ways of sinfulness and opposition and rebellion against God for you to desire that day wherein he will call all men to account for that which hath been done by them here The day of Judgment and the second coming of Christ it is very sad and ridiculous in you This will the better appear unto us by considering what those things are which do especially make this day desirable of those who do rationally desire it the Saints and Servants of God We may reduce them to three Heads First as it is a day of Absolution Secondly as it is a day of Redemption And Thirdly as it is a day of Salvation for each of these it is to all good Christians and Believers First It is a day of Absolution wherein they shall be quitted and discharged of any thing which shall be laid against them Christ who is their Judge shall be also their Advocate and plead their cause for them and pass a sentence of discharge upon them Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect in that day This now makes it ery desirable to those who have an interest in it But wicked people have not this interest it belongs not to them They have no share in pardon or absolution and consequently have no ground to wish for that day when absolution shall be granted which themselves have no share or interest in No more than Malefactors have cause to wish for the day of Assizes and the coming of the Judge to sit upon them which being duly considered makes nothing at all indeed for them Secondly As it is a day of Redemption it is to God's children desirable so and they are call'd upon in that respect to desire it Luke 21.28 Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh The day of the Lord is such a day as this is wherein those who are true Believers shall be redeemed from all those evils which here they were encompast withal And especially from the greatest evil of all which is the evil of sin which did here so much trouble and disturb them and makes them to cry out with the Apostle Oh wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death This day it is desirable of God's children in reference to this as a blessed day indeed unto them when as the fetters and shackles of sin shall be knocked off from them But now as for carnal and profane persons To what end is it for them to desire it What should they desire the day of the Lord that do not care for the fear of the Lord What should they desire that day which is a day of redemption from sin whose desire all their life-time is rather to continue in sin and to have all advantages and opportunities afforded them for the committing and following of sin Thirdly As it is a day of Salvation and the accomplishment of universal happiness it is upon this account also desirable of the Servants of God The day wherein God himself shall be glorified in his Saints because indeed the day wherein his Saints shall be glorified by him But what 's this now to those which walk in ways of sinfulness and impenitency What have they to do to desire to be glorified by God that do not care for glorifying of God Or what have they to do to partake of the life of Glory that are strangers to the life of Grace or to what purpose should they desire the end that despise the means and the ways that tend to that end So much for that And so I have done also with the Second General Part of the Text which is the convincing Expostulation laid down in these words To what end is it for you The Third and last is the express conclusion or determination in these The day of the Lord is darkness and not light which is to be understood by us of the day of death and
judgment This passage may be looked upon by us as it lies here in the Text two manner of ways First in the general proposition of it as it stands in it self Secondly in the particular scope of it in reference to that which went before and the persons to whom it is directed First Take it simply and absolutely as it lies in it self and in the general proposition which is here exprest in a twofold representation First in the Affirmative what it is and that is that it is darkness Secondly in the Negative what it is not and that is that it is not light First To speak of the former and that is the Affirmative The day of the Lord is darkness Thus we find it to be called in some other places besides as Joel 2.1 2. The day of the Lord cometh and is nigh at hand A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness And so also in Zeph. 1.15 A day of wasteness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess c. This is true of the day of the Lord in the full extent of it whether we take it of personal desolation the day of death or of national desolation the day of captivity or of general resurrection the day of judgment But still with this restriction as it referr'd to ungodly persons and to impenitent sinners with respect had to such as these are is this day that which it is said here to be But especially as I said does it refer to the day of death and final judgment which is here intended This is called a day of darkness that is to say a day of extreme misery and perplexity Darkness and light they do in the usual acception of Scripture where they are used metaphorically denote sorrow and gladness as it were easy to give instance of it and so here in this place amongst the rest Forasmuch as darkness does contain in it all kinds of sadness in which is fear and horror and solitariness and all kind of misery Such is this day of the Lord to the fore-mentioned persons not only dark in the conerete but also darkness even in the very abstract it self Take the unprofitable Servant and cast him into outer darkness Matth. 25.30 The ground hereof is this Because wicked men they are darkness themselves therefore is this day of the Lord darkness They are in the darkness of sin and ignorance whiles they live here in the world delight in works of darkness and which are opposite to the light of Grace and therefore go into a place of darkness and which is opposite to the light of Glory Their understandings are darkened and therefore their conditions are darkness also Being led and carried from one kind of darkness to another It is a day of darkness that is a day of fearfulness and terribleness and horror and consternation of mind There 's every thing terrible in it and adding to the astonishment of it The sound of the Trumpet the appearance of the Judge the opening of the Books the passing of the Sentence the dissolution of the whole frame of Heaven and earth the Sea and the waves roaring the Heavens passing away with a great noise the Elements melting with servent heat the Earth and all the works that are therein burâ—â— up the Sun darken'd the Moon withdrawing her light the Stars falling from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shaken What a terrible day must this be to such as are not provided for it that has all these concurrences in it That 's the first expression here considerable viz. the Affirmative The day of the Lord is darkness The Second is the additional Negative and that is that it is not light which is added for the greater emphasis of it Therefore we find it to be reiterated in the verse following darkness and not light even very dark and no brightness in it And it is agreeable in the like form of speech in reference to other matters which we meet withal in Scripture Thus Deut. 32.4 speaking of God A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he And Joh. 8.44 speaking of Satan He is a liar and there is no truth in him c. In 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us In all which places and the like the Negative is joyned with the Affirmative to make it more emphatical and so here To take a more particular account of it It is said here darkness and not light as we may conceive for these reasons First by way of opposition darkness and not light that is it is not light but darkness as expressing the simple nature and condition of that day Take the word day and it does in the ordinary and common acception of it denote light Whensoever it begins to be light it begins to be day and whensoever it ceases to be light it ceases to be day as that which does give the proper notion and denomination unto it and which distinguishes the one from the other God called the light day and the darkness he called night Gen. 1.5 Yea but here now in the Text it is day and yet not light day and no light in it This by way of opposition Secondly By way of intension and to shew the greatness of this darkness It is dark and dark entirely without the mixture of any thing to qualify it or to take off from the severity of it without ease without comfort without direction or any good counsel which are such things as are sometimes exprest to us by the name of light This is the misery of Hell and of the judgment which passes upon wicked men that it is absolute and compleat and entire The wrath of God without mixture as the Scripture calls it that is without any mixture of favour or refreshment in it Take any day whatsoever here in the world whether in the proper sense or in the metaphorical and it is not so over-darkned with darkness but has some kind of glimmerings of light in it The day which is fullest of clouds the rainiest and most tempestuous day yet it partakes of some light And the day which is fullest of troubles the saddest and most disconsolate day it has some mixtures of refreshment in it likewise which do serve to allay it Yea but this day of the Lord here spoken of it has none of this it is darkness and no light it is sadness and no comfort Thirdly By way of perpetuity and continuation Darkness and no light that is darkness and always dark There are some days which though they may be dark for a while yet they do not abide and continue to be so but do at last overcome that The Sun it breaks through the clouds and the day recovers its light at last though perhaps it be long first ere it does it Yea but here it does not do so Dark and no light this is a continual and
endless darkness Lastly By way of extent or explication to shew unto us the full nature of this business wherein it does consist There are two Branches of the sentence of condemnation and which the judgment of the great day does extend unto The one is positive to the punishment of sense and the enduring of exquisite torments and so in that consideration it is called darkness The other is privative in the punishment of loss and expulsion from God's glorious presence and the comfort of his countenance and so in that consideration it is said to be no light And thus we have seen this passage in each expression of it both Affirmative and Negative darkness and not light And so much may be also spoken of it as consider'd simply and absolutely in its general Proposition We may further Secondly look upon it relatively and in its particular scope as directed more especially to the persons above mentioned who desired this day of the Lord. To these the Prophet Amos here declares that this day it is darkness and not light And here again in this reference it carries a threefold force or emphasis with it First an emphasis of Information to those which were ignorant and did not know that this day was Secondly an emphasis of Conviction to those which were obstinate and would not know what this day was Thirdly an emphasis of Astonishment to those which were desperate which knew it but laid aside the thoughts and considerations of it and would put it to the venture First I say This expression The day of the Lord is darkness and not light it has an emphasis of information to those who were ignorant and which did not know it as if he had said thus unto them You seem to desire the coming of the day of the Lord as if thereby you should get some great good to your selves but alas as the case stands with you you have no cause at all to do so for there will be no advantage from it to you The proper object of desire it is good and not evil it is light and not darkness But this day of the Lord as it is circumstanced it is that which is quite contrary it is evil and not good it is darkness and not light that ye may rightly understand it The world has other notions commonly of death and judgment than those which they should have but the Scripture and word of God is the best instructer of them in this particular and that gives them a true account and estimate of such things as these are if they will hearken unto it Secondly An emphasis of Conviction to those which were obstinate and would not know it Profane persons as I shewed before they laugh'd at those things thought there was no such thing indeed as the day of the Lord and therefore scoffingly and in scorn call'd for it Well let it come We would fain see this day that you speak of and threaten us withal Well says the Prophet to these ye have no great cause to be so full of this confidence and security if ye consider all for I can tell you there is somewhat more in this day than you are aware of there 's no playing or jesting with it This day of the Lord it is darkness and not light what ever you may think of it it is so and so you will find it The word of God is powerful sharper than a two-edged Sword and the threatenings of the word having the spirit of God going along with them and setting them home upon the conscience have an ability in them to conquer and confound the most impartial mockers Thirdly An emphasis of Astonishment to those which were desperate and though they knew and in some sort believed such a day as this was yet did not fear it but were hardened in their hearts against it To such as these the Prophet here declares the horridness and unsupportableness of it That though they may think they could grapple with it and hold out against the extremities of it yet in conclusion and when it comes to the trial they will find it to be too heavy for them and above their strength whether the day of common and publick calamity or the day of trial and general judgment Who may abide the day of his coming or who shall stand when he shall appear as it is Mal. 3.2 And again Rev. 6.16 17. They shall call to the mountains to hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Take this day in reference to the Jews for their particular and it was full of astonishment in each acception whether we take it for the day of their Captivity or for the day of their Messias The day of their Captivity it was a doleful day unto them insomuch as the Prophet Jeremy made it the sole matter of his Book of Lamentations And the day of the Messias that was an heavy day like wise that it proved their final rejection for since that time they are mark'd out to the world for a persidious people and hardly known for a people The Vse of all to our selves and so to draw to a conclusion comes to this We have heard how the day of the Lord is darkness and not light that is terrible and full of horror in the whole latitude and extent of it whether we take it for the day of death and general judgment or whether we take it for the day of captivity and National visitation Now what remains but that accordingly we should be sensible and apprehensive of it in this representation and from thence to prevent the terribleness of it to our selves For this is the nature of such things as these are that the terribleness of them encreases with the security about them and the less grievous they are thought to be afore-hand the more heavy are they when they happen and come to pass And on the other side preparations for them do take off from the dreadfulness of them We should therefore labour to get a stock of Grace against such times as these are and in this day of the Lord's mercy and respite and intermission prepare for the day of his wrath and judgment and visitation We should labour and endeavour to make our peace with God in Christ who alone can take off the terribleness of that day from us and make it of a day of darkness to be a day of light We should cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light in the abandoning of all wicked and sinful courses and in the practice of all spiritual and heavenly Graces We should walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof as
the Apostle advises us in Rom. 13.13 14. Take heed of having too easy and favourable thoughts and apprehensions of such things as these are of death and judgment and calamity as if they had no great matter in them for it will not appear to be so when they shall come in good earnest Wo unto you that in this sense desire that is diminish and despise and disregard the day of the Lord which is a kind of desire interpretatively as being next to it for you have no ground or cause for it The day of the Lord being dark and not light yea very dark and no brightness in it as it is here exprest And further here consider the great difference which is betwixt man and man in this particular for whiles this day of the Lord is said to be thus and thus it is still to be taken in a variety of Emphasis according to the variety of Persons which are concern'd in it The same day being occasionally and respectively either one or t'other unusquisque sibi est aut tenebrae aut lumen says St. Austin Every one is to himself either darkness or light Si pius lumen si impius tenebrae Those which are gracious and truly religious to such the day of the Lord whether in death or judgment it is a day of light and joy and of comfort in death as it translates them to Glory and in Judgment as it finishes Glory to them On the other side to those which are wicked and ungodly and profane and atheistical to them it is a day of darkness and horror As the cloud which we read of in Exod. 14.20 It was light to the Israelites whiles it was darkness at the same time to the Egyptians A direction to one and an obstruction to the t'other Where by the way take notice of the unhappiness of all wicked and ungodly persons in the perverting of those things which in themselves have the greatest excellency by making a contrary use and improvement of them There 's nothing which wicked men partake of but it 's either the worse for them or they for it The Word of the Lord and the Table of the Lord and the Temple of the Lord and the Day of the Lord. The Word of the Lord they make it reproachful and instead of the savour of life to them to be the savour of death The Table of the Lord they make it to be vain and contemptible and instead of discerning the Lord's body eat and drink to themselves their own damnation The Temple of the Lord they make it execrable and instead of the house of Prayer a den of thieves The Day of the Lord they make it terrible and instead of a day of light a day of darkness As they profane the day of the Lord as it is taken for a day of devotion so they contemn the day of the Lord as it is taken for a day of judgment and visitation So much for that and so much also of the whole Text. SEVERAL SELECT SERMONS Upon Various Texts out of the NEW TESTAMENT Sermon I. MATTHEW 5.20 That except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It was that which was laid to the charge of our Blessed Saviour whilst he converst here upon Earth as is also since to some of his servants in conformity to him that whiles he preacht the Doctrine of the Gospel he did nullifie the vigour of the Law and the Precepts of it That which the Pharisees were more especially guilty of themselves which was to make the Commandment of God of none effect by their Traditions they most falsly and injuriously and unhappily object to Christ as if he came into the world for this purpose to destroy the Law and the Prophets Now therefore did it very much concern him to clear himself of this accusation which we find him to do in this present Scripture by shewing that he was so far from nullifying or destroying the Law as that he did so much the rather strengthen it and confirm it and further inforce it by the sense which he put upon it as leading men to a stricter and exacter observation of it than as yet they had been acquainted withall and this is the scope in particular of this Text which we have now in hand Our Saviour had for the general profest it in the 17th verse of this Chapter Think not saith he I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil Now in this verse before us he proves and demonstrates what he there profest For I say unto you That except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness c. IN the Text it self there are two general Parts First The Preface or Introduction Secondly The Doctrine or principal matter which is delivered in it The Introductory Preface that 's exprest in these words For I say unto you The Truth and Doctrine which is delivered in these words Except your Righteousness c. We shall a little invert the Order of these words in the handling and begin first of all with the second Branch of them as that which is principally intended and that is the Doctrine or Truth it self which is here propounded and delivered to us Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees c. Wherein we have a disparagement of the Righteousness of such and such persons in order to Eternal Salvation so as that these who do partake of no more but only that shall never partake of this The word Scribes is the name of an Office amongst the Jews who were noted especially for their Learning and Knowledge in the Law The word Pharisees that is the name of a Sect who were noted especially for their life and conversation Now the Righteousness of either or both together is here declared to be very defective And the point which arises from hence is briefly this That Pharisaical Righteousness is unsufficient to bring a man to Heaven If a man have no more Righteousness in him than of the Scribes and Pharisees he shall never enter into the Kingdom of God For the better opening of the present point unto us there are two things to be done by us First To shew what this Pharisaical Righteousness is and wherein it consists Secondly To shew the Defectiveness and Insufficiency of this Righteousness in reference to Eternal Salvation and what it is which makes it so to be as is here by our Blessed Saviour declared concerning it First What this Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was or is which is thus insufficient Now this may be reduced to these two heads either first the matter and substance of their Righteousness or secondly the manner and circumstances Their Righteousness it was observable and remarkable in either of these particulars but yet defective in each First For the matter and substance of their Righteousness it
gave him a secret hint of the nearness of his dissolution Thus much for it Take it which way ye will for the manner of God's speaking it 's evident by collection from the context that it was an interrupting word a word whereby God did interrupt this wretch in his self-conference and in a manner take him off The man was very eager in his employments and God comes in between he 's building his barns and God demolishes them he 's laying up his goods and God unloads them he 's telling his money and God scatters it he 's lengthening his daies and God contracts and shortens them he 's promising his soul comfort and God takes his soul away the man 's busie accounting and the voice puts him out But God spake Thus it pleases the Lord to deal with men many times in such cases as these are He graciously interposes himself in their sinful courses and in their vain projects and in their foolish imaginations he puts them out of their tract he laies a rub in their way he will not suffer them to go on he so sweetly guides and over-rules them by the hand of his providence that he prevents them commission of those sins which their hearts lust after and in a manner takes them off And happy were it with us if we would observe his dealings in this kind God's interruptions are promotions The more he hinders us the more he puts us forward and so we should make account There cannot be a greater mercy than to be stopt and interrupted in sin as there cannot be a greater judgment than not to observe this interruption It 's a dangerous business to neglect the awakenings of the Almighty when they shall come home to a man's conscience and tell him of such and such courses divert him and turn him from them and he shall make nothing of it but when he is wounded run away arrow all and when he is stopt make the greater means to get on This is a fearful condition it is a sign of a man for the present under a spirit of slumber Therefore let us examine our selves in this particular and see how the case is with us Consider how often God hath interrupted thee in thy ungodly courses and thou hast not given him any heed He has spoken to thee but thou hast not regarded him he has visited thee but thou hast not observed him he has come home to thy soul and spirit and thou hast been never a whit the better for all his admonitions of thee he has spoken to thee by his Ministers and all in vain This is a miserable estate and therefore look to it whosoever are guilty of it think what a sad thing it is to hearken to the interruptions of Satan and not to hearken to the interruptions of God Satan speaks to us in duties and the exercise of holy performances and him we can give attention to with all kind of readiness and entertain chat with him and close with his unseasonable suggestions God interrupts us in fin and when we are going about unwarrantable actions tells us we should not do this and tells us we should not do that and we commonly make nothing of it But I must not stand long now upon the prosecution of this point That 's the first thing to be observed and taken notice of by us God interrupts him This But it has an emphasis of interception Secondly God opposes him or contradicts him in this his speech He does not only interrupt him but oppose him This at the first hearing may seem to be the same with the former but yet there is some difference in that there is somewhat superadded For God might have spoken between and yet have spoken the same he might have interrupted him and yet said as he said God interrupted Abraham in the offering up of his Son but he interrupted him by way of favour God interrupted Cornelius in the offering up of his prayers but he interrupted him by way of acceptation God interrupted Zacharias in the offering up of Incense but that was an interruption of agreement All interruptions are not presently arguments of dislike and contradiction but this in the Text it was so This interruption of this rich man it was like God's interruption of Paul when he was going poste to Damascus with letters against the Church of God The Lord there took him off and opposed him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks Such was this speech here a speech of opposition and the opposition as ye shall observe is various for besides the opposition in the subjects speaking God spake and man spake The Rich man spake to himself and God spake to him here 's a manifold contrariety in the things spoken themselves and that in these particulars First The Rich man spake to himself by way of applause God spake to him by way of reproach Secondly The Rich man so spake to himself as that he did promise himself ease and pleasure and contentment God so spake to him as that he threatned him with dissolution Thirdly The Rich man promised himself ease and pleasure and contentment for many years God threatned him with dissolution that very night Last of all The Rich man did appropriate all this provided peace and comsort and contentment to his own soul God questioned who should have the things which he had provided we see the opposition before us Thus then 't is plain that God does not only interrupt men sometimes in their self conferences and pleasing imaginations but also does contradict them and goes contrary to them He confounds the wisdom of the wise he disappoints the devices of the crafty he brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent he scatters the proud in the imaginations of their own hearts he thinks not as they think neither are his waies like unto theirs There 's a manifest contrariety to them The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain It were a very pretty thing if a man could but sometimes peep and look into mens closets and counting-houses and the secret Cabinets of their hearts and see what fine work there 's there now and then projecting One man cutting out to himself such a Lordship another such a dignity another such a preferment One man providing for this another for that another for a third thing each man promises to himself some great matter and that for some space of time and at last when all comes to all God comes in and takes them away when men have spun a fair Thread God cuts it and when men have woven a dainty Web God breaks it and when men have built them a brave and goodly Tower a Castle in the Air God overturns it overturns it c. according to that elegant repetition which we meet with in Ezek. Yea when they have raised their thoughts to the highest pitch that they can in that day their thoughts Oh
here made by the Vine-dresser in the behalf of the Fig-tree that is of the Ministers in regard of the Flocks belonging to them which is the Forbearance of them Let it alone The Second is the Determination of the Time for the exercise and continuance of this Forbearance and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This year also There 's a special Emphasis in this which is not to be passed by us We 'l take things as they lye before us and as they offer themselves to us to be handled by us And first This we have here intimated to us the Patience and Forbearance which is in God towards the sons of men for some time even of his own accord This also here in the Text it is a Relative particle which has respect to some former indulgence of this Lord of the Vineyard towards this Fig-tree whiles he says Let it alone now also it does imply that he had for some time let it alone already and so indeed he had as we may observe out of the foregoing verse He had spared it and let it alone for three years together in all which time he had looked for fruit from it but yet had found none That which we may observe from hence is this That the Lord does not presently proceed to Judgment upon people for their unfruitfulness but is willing and content for some time to let them alone and to stay waiting and expecting from them Here was one year looking for fruit and none then yet it is let alone He comes the next year and is also disappointed yet forbears it still one year more to try what it will do and is still disappointed and yet is still patient with it And this I say sets forth unto us the patience of God towards a people ere he proceed in judgement against them This is observable in him in divers instances and examples of it which we meet with-all in Scripture Thus it was with the Old World God did not presently bring the I lood upon them but gave them a fair warning of it long before Gen. 6.3 The Lord said My Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man for that he also as flesh yet his daies shall be an hundred and twenty years According to that of St. Peter in 2 Pet. 3.20 where it is said That the long-suffering of God waited in the daies of Noah whiles the Ark was in preparing And so for Israel he was very patient towards them 2 Chron 36.15 16. The Lord God of their Fathers sent unto them by his messengers rising up early and sending them because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place But they mocked his messengers and despised his words and misused his Prophets till the wrath of God arose against his people and there was no remedy And so for Jerusalem our blessed Saviour expresses himself after this manner towards it O Jerusalem that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a Hen gathers her Chickens under her wings and ye would not Luk. 13.34 35 c. This the Lord is pleased to do upon divers considerations First out of his Nobleness and Royalty and Generosity of mind as we may so express it To shew that he does not take pleasure or delight in the death of sinners as he hath sometimes told us He loves not to destroy there where he can any way spare His long-suffering it is salvation and has that in the scope of it not only eternal but also temporal which does sometimes also follow upon it Therefore he loves to give them all the fair quarter and advantage that may be and which they are oâ—â—ble of from him There may be now and then in Trees some accidental Impediments upon them besides the natural barrenness of them which may perhaps for a year or so keep them from being so fruitful And therefore the Master of the Vineyard will not at the first cut them down but let them alone rather for a while that he may see how it will be with them and whether they 'l be constantly so yea or no. Secondly The Lord does thus with many people that thereby he may leave them so much the more inexcusable and may be justified in his proceedings against them when he comes to judgment indeed that all mens mouths may be stopp'd and that they may believe so much the more fully in God If the Lord should cut men off presently so soon as he is provoked to do it they would be ready to say he dealt too hardly and rigorously with them now therefore for a while does he forbear them Thirdly Sometimes to exercise this patience of the Vine-dressers themselves which labour and take pains about these Fig-trees God will hereby sometimes prove them and God will sometimes hereby trouble them as St. Paul observes it in himself from the non-proficiency and impenitency of the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12. ult And by his own patience and forbearance of such persons God will leave them his Ministers to a spirit of patience and forbearance in themselves in conformity to God's own example The Vse which we may make for our particular of this observation is briefly this namely that we should not therefore think our selves at any time to be wholly free or exempted from judgment because it does not presently light upon us for we may be mistaken in so thinking There 's many a man and there 's many a people which God spares it may be the first year and the second year and the third year and yet at last cuts off in the fourth spares in one hand and yet cuts off in another Forbearance is no acquittance as we use to say there 's a let us alone speaking even in anger and wrath and indignation as we find it hinted unto us in Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned unto idols let him alone But of this we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter out of the following words and therefore I shall pass it over here That 's one thing which is signified in this expression Let it alone this year also to wit some former forbearance which the Lord and owner of the Vineyard had vouchsafed of his own accord Secondly whiles he says here this year also here is implyed a further desire of continued patience and forbearance The Lord of the Vineyard as I shewed before had hitherto let the Fig-tree alone of his own disposition inclination Now the Vine-dresser desires him that he would do as much for one year more upon his request and intreaty for it From whence we learn thus much that those who are faithful Workmen and Labourers in the Vineyard of the Lord they desire as long as may be to keep off God's judgments from his people if they cannot wholly and absolutely prevent theâ— yet at least that they may for a while respite â—â—â—m and so lengthen out their tranquillity to them This
even in the seed of the woman betwixt themselves And it is that which is to be bewailed when it is so as a fruit of the flesh The spirit that is in us lusts to envy but God giveth more Grace as the Apostle James tells us Jam. 4.5 6. Though it be common yet it is not to be allowed of but rather so much the more to be condemned and resisted and striven against It concerns Christians therefore to be more wary and watchful over themselves in this particular and jealous of their own hearts for it is a very great and sad evil and such as for which Martha was here justly though tacitly rebuked by Christ himself And that 's one thing here observable from the occasion Secondly We may observe somewhat here also from the carriage and practice of Christ who here takes the part of Mary who was censured and accused by her Sister Perhaps there might be somewhat that Mary was to blame in it is very likely she was not altogether excusable there might be a sault in her that we will not deny but suppose there were yet it was not so much as Martha made of it nor such as Christ would here take notice of being she was good and right for the main lest by this means he should have discouraged her in Religion and have check'd that good which was in her That which we learn from it is to take heed of disheartening and of discouraging Grace in any persons wheresoever we observe it but rather to use all means for the confirming of it all that we can This was the property still of our Blessed Saviour upon all occasions He would not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax as it is noted of him But where at any time he saw Grace in sincerity he was willing to pass by some weaknesses and infirmities in circumstantial matters and commend and encourage that good which he saw and observed He takes no notice of all that which her Sister Martha had aggravated against her but says that Mary hath chosen that good part c. Thus should we learn to do likewise in the like cases take notice of that which is good rather than of that which is evil where there is good mixt with the evil as Christ himself here did Thirdly Observe here further in general the different temper of these two Sisters in opposition one to the other Martha she chiefly minded and looked after her houshold affairs But Mary she sate at Christ's feet and heard his word Martha she was busy in the entertainment of the Person of Christ but Mary she was intent upon the entertainment of the Doctrine of Christ Martha she was diligent in her particular Calling but Mary she was zealous in her general So that whiles the one was the better Housewife yet the other was the better Christian at least did more express her Christianity at this time and upon this present occasion So that we see how hard and rare it is to excel in two things at once and to be eminent in a variety of Perfections Those that are noted for the one they are commonly more or less deficient and failing in the other Those that are much in the world they are for the most part more remiss in Religion And again those that are much in Religion they are not always so mindful of the world This is so far to be observ'd and taken notice of by us as to make us the more careful of our selves as there is occasion for it namely to give every work and business that portion of care which is due and proper unto it It 's easy for us to run into extremes and therefore we had need to be more watchful and industrious to keep the mean To give Religion what is due to that and again to give our particular Callings what is due to them likewise For there 's a miscarriage which may be on either hand and so often-times is Some they are so intent upon the outward exercises and performances of Religion as that occasionally from thence they neglect their particular employments They sit at the feet of Christ and hear his word but they neglect the care of their Families and their houshold-affairs This is a weakness in them and such as is to be avoided by them One duty does not cross another whiles we are commanded to hear the word we are commanded also to follow our Callings in the season of them And these two they may very well hold and consist together Again there are others which are so intent upon their Callings as that they have no leisure to look after their Souls nor Religion and the worship of God have no time to attend upon the Ordinances and the means of Grace which are afforded unto them This is a great miscarriage on the other side and the greatest of all and therefore chiefly to be shunned by us as of the saddest consequence with it And thus much of these Points which do arise out of the Text in general Now to come to the handling of the words more particularly and distinctly by themselves wherein there are two General Parts considerable of us First The Judgment of Christ which he past upon Mary's choice Mary hath chosen that good part Secondly The Illustration or Amplification of this choice in her which shall not be taken away from her First Here 's his Judgment it self which is in a way of praise and commendation Mary hath chosen that good part Christ commends Mary for her choice where there are divers things observable of us We 'll take them as they offer themselves to us to be handled by us First We learn from hence thus much That it is the commendation of a Christian to make choice of such ways as are best and most approvable to Christ If there be any way better than other in the course and tenour of his life to be sure to pitch and fasten upon that This was here the commendation of Mary she made a good choice for her self in that which was to be done by her which our Saviour commends in her So it was also the commendation of Joshua cap. 24. ver 15. Choose you this day whom ye will serve but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. And so Moses to the Israelites See I have set before you this day life and good death and evil Deut. 30.15 And he wishes them to make choice of the best This is also commendable in every one else besides and that upon these following grounds First It is an argument of a good and sound judgment it is an argument of persons well grounded and principled in Religion and that know what belongs unto it Thus Psal 111.10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom A good understanding have all they that do his Commandments His praise endureth for ever Men would usually and for the most part be counted wise men and have
He desires to have you and you so as to have you at his beck and will and command There 's no such Tyrant as Satan where he once gets â—ooting into any soul Therefore this should teach us still to be wary and jealous of him Having this warning given us by Christ for what he said to his Disciples he said to all of us we should accordingly make use of it and that is to watch and to take heed to our selves Let us take heed of promising our selves safety in the midst of the greatest danger but rather consider the attempts which are made against us and by whom For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this World against spiritual wickedness in high places When we consider what our enemies are what advantages are upon them and what they aim at and propound to themselves even the undoing of poor souls certainly all this should awaken us and make us look to our selves He that now can find in his heart to be secure he is not asleep but plainly dead This were enough to make us look about us that Satan would have us to corupt us but yet that 's no all He would have us to afflict us too That 's another Branch of his desire which is here also included and given notice of in this warning of Christ's As Satan would weaken our Faith so also darken our comfort And as he would draw us into sin so likewise trouble us and torment us for it He aims at this These are fiery darts of the wicked which the Scripture makes mention of to us in Eph. 6.16 Look as on the one side the Holy Ghost He is first a Spirit of Holiness and then he is a Spirit of Joy First a Sanctifier and then a Comforter So on the other side Satan the evil Spirit he is first a Spirit of wickedness and then a Spirit of Sadness First he perswades to sin and then he carries on to despair and fills the soul with horror for sin Yea not only does he afflict for sin and labour to disquiet for that but even also to afflict there where sin has not indeed that forcing as in others it has He labours to make salse representations to Believers of their estate and condition and of the affection of God towards them that so they may walk dejectedly and uncomfortably all their days Because he hears that comfort is a vigorous condition and that the joy of the Lord is heir strength therefore he labours all he can to hinder them and to intercept them of it That so whiles they walk uncomfortably they may walk unprofitably and be less useful and serviceable in the places in which they are as by this means they come to be Therefore we should remember to be jealous of him here likewise and in all trouble of spirit labour to discern and understand how far Satan mingles himself with it what is from the Spirit of God convincing and reproving for sin and what is from the evil Spirit in enlarging the matter of trouble to us beyond its due measure and bounds This was the care of the Apostle Paul in the business of the excommunicated Corinthian who was now humbled and cast down for his sin he was careful that he might not be overwhelmed with over-much sorrow and he gives this reason for it lest Satan should get an advantage against us for we are not ignorant of his devices 2 Cor. 2.11 It is usual with Satan thus to fiâ—h in troubled waters and so to abuse poor afflicted souls which we should mind both as to others and to our selves Satan would have you to afflict you That 's the first Branch in this passage to wit the design it self Satan hath desired you The Second is the Amplification of it And to sift or winnow you as wheat This it may be taken two manner of ways either in a bad sense or in a good If we take it in a bad sense so it signifies the intent of Satan by that which he desires If we take it in a good sense so it signifies he event of Satan and that which though against his mind and beyond his intention he does actually effect and perform First Take it in a ill sense As Satan's intent so to winnow you is to shake and remove you Look as Corn when it is winnowed it is shaken from one side to another and never lies still even so does Satan with the Disciples of Christ and endeavoured to do at this present time to shake them nd toss them up and down with his violent temptations and the variety of them This expression shews the unweariedness of Satan in his attempts upon the Godly and his several courses which he takes with them to annoy them He shifts them and he removes them from one temptation to another now on this side and then on that so that they never are quiet and at rest As he did thus with Christ himself as we may see in the story of his temptations so he does thus also with the Members of Christ This teaches us to labour therefore for so much the more constancy and solidity and settlement to be well rooted and fasten'd in Christ and by a Spirit of Faith to hold upon him that so none of all the shakings and concussions of Satan whatsoever may be able to do us any hurt but we may still stand stedfast and immovable and hold fast our profession without wavering Thus may this expression be taken in an ill sense and so as expressing to us Satan's purpose and intent But Secondly It may be also taken in a good sense and so as expressing to us the event of Satan's practises though beyond his own desire and intention The winnowing of the Corn in the Fan it is not for the hurt of it but for the good of it And therefore the Gospel is in other places of Scripture compared to a Fan whereby the Wheat and the Chaff are separated and distinguish'd one from the other Thus in a sense also are Satan's temptations And so these words He hath desired you to sift you as wheat are to be understood thus He hath desired to do that with you which shall be to you as the winnowing of the Corn. And so we learn thus much by it Two things especially First That the temptations of God's people they are great advantages and benefits to them as it pleases God to order and dispose them They purge them from that dross and chaff and corruption which otherwise would adhere unto them And they also serve as separations many times of the precious from the vile according to the effect which they have upon them And they fit them also for future service Secondly We see here how also God out-wits Satan and destroys his own plots by himself who in that way wherein he thinks to do Believers greatest mischief he does them many times
one who is unchangeable one that does not upon every turn withdraw his affection but abides constant in his love unto them he does not turn them out of doors upon every miscarriage but though he maintains the Authority of a Master yet he still keeps the tenderness of a Father and Husband unto them which is not to cast them out And as he does not cast them out himself so neither does he suffer any thing else to do it for him They shall not cast out themselves for he puts his fear into their hearts that they may not depart from him Jer. 32.40 and they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.8 neither shall Satan or any of his Instruments pull them away from him Joh. 10.28 29. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of mine hand My Father that gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand But farther when 't is said here He will not cast them out we must not take it as a meer Negative signifying what he will not do to them but as a Positive and Affirmative likewise included in it that is that he will by all means nourish them and preserve them and watch over them He will not onely receive and admit them when they come to him but likewise afterwards when they are come and with him he will most kindly entertain them As Christ is the best Guest and Inhabitant to be entertained where he comes so likewise he is the best Host and Landlord to entertain those that come unto him Him that cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out So much for the second General which is Christs Entertainment And so much of the Text. SERMON XVI JOH 13.7 What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter The Conversation of Christ in the World whiles he was here below in the days of his Flesh as it was with a great deal of awfulness so it was also with a great deal of meekness and as it was full of Majesty and Authority and holy Conviction so it was likewise full of Humility and Condescension And sometimes again also of Intricacy and Admiration being carried in such a way as at least in some particulars was not presently so well understood by the persons he converst withal An instance whereof we have here in this present story before us of his washing of his Disciples feet with the ceremonies and circumstances of it which seem'd at the first appearance to have some strangeness and uncouthness in it And therefore by Simon Peter is at the first declin'd and rejected with a modest expostulation Lord doest thou wash my feet as who should say Thou should'st not do so in the verse immediately preceding Now this Verse which I have now read unto you is Christ's reply by way of satisfaction Jesus answered c. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First the simple Proposition Secondly the additional Qualification The Proposition is in these words What I do thou knowest not now The Qualification of the Proposition is in these But thou shalt c. We begin with the First viz. The simple Proposition What I do thou knowest not now This is occasionally spoken concerning Peter's ignorance of one action of Christ's in particular to wit the washing of his Disciples feet but it is appliable and may be referr'd to the whole Providence of God in general and his transaction of things in the World In which sense we will now at this time consider it and look upon it and so observe from it thus much That even the Servants of God themselves are sometimes very much to seek in the actings and dealings of God Christ's Disciples do not always now presently understand Christ's actions When we say they do not know or understand them the meaning is not this That they do not simply discern or apprehend the things themselvs in the transaction of them for that they do Peter knew that Christ went about to wash his feet and of the other Disciples But they do not discern or apprehend the drist or meaning of them no more than Peter here did This is that which they do not do nor vet are able for some time to do it Acts 1.7 It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power says Christ there to his Disciples when they ask'd him whether or no at that time he would restore again the Kingdom to Israel God had reserv'd it to himself and it did not belong to them Therefore Job expostulates in Job 24.1 Why seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty do they not know him not see his days For so the words should be rendred according to the Original Text though our Translation carries it otherwise by referring Not to them that know him therein as I conceive under favour a little obscuring the sense and falling short of the meaning of it There are two Particulars especially in which those who are the Servants of God are notwithstanding very much ignorant of the providential ways of God The one is as to the scope of them And the other is as to the issue of them They know not what he does that is what end he has in doing them And again they know not what he does that is what effect will come of them They know not his actions either in the intent or extent of them First Not as to the intent Not the scope or drift of his actions What end he does propound to himself in the doing of them This they do not presently understand Indeed they know the general end as they do also the general effect and are sufficiently perswaded of it which is his own Honour and Glory and the greatest good and welfare of his people This they know to be mainly in his eye and which he will at last most certainly effect and bring to pass But for the particulars here they are to seek The Lord has many gracious ends and aims which he does intend and propound to himself which we are not presently acquainted withal nor are yet able to guess at them As Joseph when his Brethren sold him into Egypt who would ever have thought that God had intended good to him by that dispensation which in it self in its own nature was so contrary thereto But yet ye see how he tells them that God intended good to him by it Gen. 50.20 As for you ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day and to save much people alive The Lord intended good in that evil Secondly As to the extent and effect They know not this neither they know not what such things will come to in the issue and event of them this is also unknown to them We see
within their own line Secret things belong to God and revealed to us and to our children as Moses tells the Israelites in Deut. 29.29 Lastly Sometimes in a way of Discipline to correct some miscarriage in them or to prevent it for time to come whether pride or security or carnal confidence or whatever it be The Lord was afraid of Paul lest he should be too much exalted in himself through the abundance of the revelations and therfore when he had discovered great matters to him and made him hear unspeakable words which it was not possible or lawful for a man to utter he sent him a thoâ—n in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should be exalted above measure as himself gives an account of it 2 Cor. 12.7 So ill is God pleased with such distempers as these in his people as that either he keeps such discoveries wholly from them or else does very much allay and qualify them to them but usually the former and that whereof we now speak Those who are light-headed they do best to be kept in the dark And so as to these spiritual dispensations when men shall abuse that knowledg which God bestows upon them to arrogancy and wantonness and conceitedness and despising of others God does in such cases as these are restrain them from knowing more and perhaps sometimes of such things which otherwise it would concern them to know He leaves them in these cases to themselves and to the vanity of their own imaginations that so they may by experience see what it is to abuse his loving kindness and to turn his Grace into wantonness Sometimes God in judgment surprises men and brings upon them evils unawares because they would not know the time of their own visitation when they might have known it nor seasonably see when his band was lifted up against them as the Prophet speaks Thus we see the manifold account of this Point and Observation before us That even the servants of God do not presently see what he does The consideration of this Point is thus far useful to us as from hence to satisfy and inform us in this particular That we may not think either of our selves or others more highly than we ought to think as the Apostle advises We see what little ground any have too peremptorily to take upon them the fore-telling of future events or to conclude of things afore-hand which is the prerogative of God alone and of such as are more immediately inspired by him We must be wary and cautious in such matters as these are and keep within our own compass Remember still that of our Saviour which I mention'd before It is not for you to know the times c. Indeed there is a knowledg of the times which is both possible and commendable for us as it is recorded of the children of Issachar 1 Chron. 12.32 That they had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do That it concerns every Christian to know in his place and capacity so to understand the genius and frame of the times in which he lives as to order his life accordingly and so to be able to foresee the inclinations of them as whereby to steer his Christian course but as for absolute determining of them or of what will be done in them this is a thing which is to be left alone to God himself and is a matter of delay and expectation What I do thou knowest not now That 's the First General viz. The Simple Proposition wherein our Saviour denies in Peter a perfect knowledg of what he did The Second is the Additional Qualification of the foregoing Proposition But thou shalt know hereafter This is that which is here signified by Christ to Peter upon this particular occasion And it holds good as well as the former in regard of God's general Providence That though his Servants do not presently apprehend or understand what is done by him yet in time they shall In this passage there are two distinct Branches First the discovery it self Thou shalt know it And Secondly the time of this discovery It is future Thou shalt know it hereafter First Here 's the discovery it self Thou shalt know it Though God's actions are for a while in the dark and are not presently made known yet there will a time come for the clearing and evidencing of them and they shall be seen what they are and laid open This is an high piece of Grace and condescension in him For as God is absolute in his actions themselves and may do what he pleases so he is absolute also as to the approving of his actions and may choose whether or no he will discover them He need give no account of his matters as Elihu speaks in Job 33.13 He needs not but yet he does for all that At least he will do at one time or other so that his people may know them This will he do to sundry purposes and according to several explications in which we may take it First He will discover them in the justice and equity and uprightness of them What I do thou shalt know hereafter that is Thou shalt know that I have been just and righteous in doing of it That the Judge of all the World has done no more than that which is equal Bold and presumptuous persons are apt now and then to challenge God in this particular and to bring him to their tribunal for that which he does whether in regard of themselves or others to think that God's dispensations are very unjust and unequal The Prophet Jeremiah himself though otherwise a good man was once upon that Point in Jer. 12.1 Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments or let me reason the case with thee as the words will bear it Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are they happy that deal very treacherously Habakkuk he was upon the like expostulations in Hab. 2.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he And so 't is with many others besides who are ready to quarrel at God's Providence and to think he deals unequally with them But he will one day shew the contrary he will manifest that there was very great cause for what he did that he was just in all his ways and righteous in all his works In Ezek. 18.29 The House of Israel said The way of the Lord is not equal But what says God to them again Oh House of Israel Are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal There 's none which are apt sooner to complain of God than those who are obnoxious to him nor there 's none which are so ready to think that he deals worse with them than those that deal worst with him Those which are
c. Thirdly There is also here considerable the relation of a Master and his Servants Servants they are to be with their Masters that so they may the better attend them and be serviceable to them And thus now are we also to Christ and for this purpose likewise to be with him As Christ himself also urged and carried it Joh. 12.26 If any man serve me let him follow me And where I am there shall also my Servant be If any man serve me him will my Father honour Thus in respect of all these relations Where Christ is there shall also be Christians The proper Use which we are to make of this Doctrine is that which the Scripture if self teaches us to make of it in the Apostle Paul's own advice 1 Thess 4.18 Wherefore comfort ye one another with these words Comfort your selves and comfort ye one another both are to be done by us And the one making way for t'other When we have first by prayer and meditation wrought these ruths into our own hears and suck'd out the comfort of them we shall from hence be so much the more inabled to comfort others with the comforts wherewith we our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1.4 And there 's a great deal of comfort which may be drawn from such Points as these are Especially if we shall take this Passage in the full Tatitude and extent of it as it becomes us to take it Not only as to an identity of place but also as to an identity of condition which is likewise to be understood in it as belonging unto it That where I am there ye may be also And that as I am so ye shall be also Believers as they shall be in the same house as it were with Christ so they shall likewise be in the same estate which is a state of Glory and Bliss According to that of the Apostle 1 Joh. 3.2 We know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Christians they are predestinated to be conformable to the Image of Christ as in other things so also in this Therefore says the Apostle It is a righteous thing with God to give to you which are troubled rest when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven And when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe 1 Thess 2.7 Now what a comfort are such Points as these to a gracious and spiritual heart It is comfortable in all the roubles and pressures of this present life and the manifold sad conditions which God's children are in here in the World in Banishment in Imprisonment in Desolation in want of place of abode That there is a place prepared for them where they shall rest with Christ himself and fare even as he himself does It is comfortable as to present desertion and as to God's withdrawing of himself from his people and seeming as a stranger to them That there will a time one day come when they shall meet so together as never to be separated from each other They shal ever be with the Lord and he also ever with them So likewise As to the thoughts of death and dissolution it is comfortable here also That though body and soul be divided and severed from each other for a time yet they shall be both joyned together at last and both to Christ And we may reason from Christ to our selves By considering in what condition he is together with what we shall be in also in reference to him Therefore as he is risen from the Grave so likewise shall we As he is ascended up into Heaven so likewise shall we As he is in full glory and happiness both of Body and Soul so we in due time shall be likewise He shall change our vile bodies that they may be made like to his glorious body c. Those that are made like to Christ here in regard of Grace have his image of likeness upon them they shall be made like Christ also hereafter in regard of Glory being changed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 2.18 Last of all it is comfortable also in respect to Christian Friends in their departure here one from another that they shall at last be sure to meet together again and never part for their being always with Christ it does consequently infer their being also always one with another Besides they shall all be in the same place where Christ himself is And as the Members shall not be disjoyned from the Head so neither shall they be disjoyned from one another but be all of them together And so now I have done with this whole Verse in both the parts of it the intermediate Promise and Vltimate And if I go I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there c. SERMON XX. JOH 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Of the Equality of the Son of God with the Father we heard in part the last day out of that Scripture which was then at that time handled by us In this Scripture we have our Saviour instructing and informing us in the things of God who by how much the nearer he is to him the better is he accepted with him and so consequently the better able to acquaint us with him also in the midst of our own ignorance and incapacity And this is that which we have here offered unto us in this Verse which I have now read unto you No man hath seen God at any time c. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First a Defect premised Secondly a supply of this Defect propounded The Defect premised we have in these words No man hath seen God at any time The Supply of this Defect that we have in those The onely begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father c. We begin with the first of those Parts viz. the Defect which is here premised No man hath seen c. This is agreeable to some other places of Scripture besides which have the same or like expressions in them In 1 Joh. 4.12 we have the same words expresly No man hath seen God at any time and in 1 Tim. 6.16 that which is equivalent where St. Paul speaking of God says He dwells in that light which no man can approach unto whom no man bath seen nor can see And in other places he is called the Invisible God This will require a little Explication from us because at the first hearing of it it seems to be repugnant and opposite to some others as declaring the contrary as if God indeed both might and had been seen Thus we read of Moses Exod. 33.11 that God spake with him face to face Panim elpanim and Num. 12.8 mouth to mouth Peh el peh a-mareeh apparently or visibly after
there an obstruction on our part for our seeing and beholding of God after such a manner Now the use of this Point may be drawn forth into a varions improvement First as a confutation of that fond conceit of the Anthropomorphites certain Hereticks of old who would make God like unto man ascribing to him humane shape and bodily lineaments If he were so he might then be seen by the eyes of man which it is here said he cannot be That which they ground their errour upon which is such parts mention'd in Scripture as Eyes and Ears and Hands will not hold they being taken in a Metaphorical sense and not properly Seondly It is a confutation also of Papists in their Idolatrous Worship of God under the Image of a Man God himself presses this as an Argument against such kind of practises as we may see in Deut. 4.5 Take ye therefore good heed unto your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you And so which is pertinent hereunto it is likewise against all apprehensions in the mind of God in the likeness of any visible Object and teaches us how we should in our thoughts conceive of him namely as he is revealed in his Word as of an Eternal Essence most Holy most Wise c. who made all things and governs them by his Infinite and Almighty Power Thirdly seeing no man can see God perfectly whiles he is here below it should make us therefore so much the more to cherish that imperfect sight of Him which at present is vouchsafed unto us in our communion with him by his Spirit and in the exercise of the grace of Faith We should see him as much as we can till we can see him better Whiles we cannot look upon him directly let us at least look upon him in his reflections look upon him as he shines forth in the Gospel and in the face of Jesus Christ wherein we have a glorious view of him according to that state and condition in which we are It is the priviledge of us under the New Testament above them which were under the Old that we now all with open face may behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and may be changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord as it is in 2 Cor. 3.18 We should look upon God in his Ordinances in his Creatures and in his Children wherein he has represented himself to us and whereby in a sort we may have communion with himself if we love not them whom we have seen how shall we love him whom we have not seen 1 Joh. 4.20 Lastly Seeing here in this present life God becomes thus invisible to us that we cannot see see him and yet notwithstanding our happiness does consist in the vision of him it should make us to breathe and long after that blessed place and state and condition wherein we shall see him face to face as the Apostle Paul gives us an instance and example in himself in Phil. 2.23 and in 2 Cor. 12.2 c. And further we should so order and frame our lives at present whiles we are here below in the flesh that we may be made meet at last for the beholding of such a sight as this is We should by all means labour and endeavour to be pure in heart because that such shall see God Matth. 5.8 And we should follow after peace and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 And as we desire when he appears to be like him and to see him as he is so having this hope in us we should be careful to purifie our selves even as he is pure as the Apostle John exhorts us 2 Joh. 3.2 3. And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the Defect premised in those words viz. No man hath seen God at any time The second is the supply of this Defect propounded in these The onely begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him where what is wanting on our parts we have very happily made up to us in Christ In this passage it self there are two branches further considerable First the Person mentioned Secondly the Action which is attributed or ascribed to this Person The Person mentioned that is Christ in these words The onely-begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father The Action attributed to this Person is the discovery of the Father unto us in those words He hath declared him First to speak of the former viz. the Person mentioned who is Christ and this Person is here exhibited to us under a double description First from his Relation and secondly from his Residency From his Relation that is that he is the Onely-begotten Son of the Father From his Residency that is that he is in the bosom of the Father First here is considerable his Relation whereby Christ is here described unto us and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the onely-begotten Son Thus we find him called in other places by this Apostle There is two things at once in it First that he is begotten And secondly that he is the onely-begotten He is the begotten first of all Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee it is the speech of God to Christ Psal 2.7 and it is again recited by the Apostle in Heb. 2.5 The manner of this begetting is to us incomprehensible and so ineffable but we may take it according to these following conceptions of it as pertinent to it First that God the Father begat the Son of his very Substance very God of very God And hence hath the Son the Name of God fastned upon him The Word was God Joh. 1.1 and God blessed for evermore Rom. 9.5 Yea he has the name of Jehovah which is attributed to none but to him that is the true God Gen. 19.24 c. Secondly God the Father communicateth his whole Essence to the Son He begat another Self of Himself even that which Himself is In which respect the Son of God saith I and the Father are one The Father is in me and I in him Joh. 10.30.38 Thirdly God the Father's begetting of the Son it is truly and properly Eternal I was set up from everlasting says he Prov. 8.22 c. I was brought forth before the hills c. as I shewed the last day This Generation of the Son of God it is coeternal with God himself which is further considerable unto us Lastly This Divine Generation it denoteth an Equality of Nature and Essence in those Two Persons the Father and Son Hence in Phil. 2.6 it is said that being in the form of God he thought it no robbery to be equal with God No robbery because it was his due and of right belonging to him as of the same Essence That which lies upon us is to adore this great Mystery and to stand in
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thrusts them forth as it is Matt. 13.52 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you c. says St. John in 2 Joh. 1.3 But Secondly As here 's an acount of their knowledg what they did with that so here 's likewise an account of their practice what put them upon that For that 's another question which is sometimes put in such cases to those who are the servants of Christ What need ye to be so earnest and importunate and to make such a stir as ye do to persade men to this and that to look after their souls and to mind eternity and to have a regard to their future condition c What needs all this instruction and exhortation and admonition and threatning that comes from you Can't ye as well let men alone and be quiet and there 's an end No says he we cannot do so There 's very good reason for it why we should be thus earnest as we are to call upon men to leave their sins and to amend their ways and to reform their lives and that is Knowing the terror of the Lord. We cannot know that and not practice this Scientes ideo suademus there 's that also in Because we know therefore we perswade Where this knowledg as it here lies in the Text seems to carry a threefold force on Emphasis with it First As a word of discovery in opposition to ignorance knowing it that is being advised of it Secondly As a word of certainty in opposition to conjecture Knowing it that is being assured of it Thirdly As a word of consideration in opposition to forgerfulness or non attendency Knowing it that is being mindful of it The Apostle Paul and the rest of the Ministers upon the account of that knowledg which they had of the terror of the Lord in this threefold explication they were therefore thus diligent to deal with men for their hearkening unto them First Knowing it in a way of simple discovery in opposition to Ignorance Knowing it that is being advised of it it is a great advantage to any man that undertakes to speak of any thing or to perswade any other to it for himself to have an understanding of that which he speaks about to know what he says and whereof he affirms Those that are ignorant themselves will be but sorry Teachers of others So then the blind must lead the blind Teachers should be persons of knowledge 1 Tim 2.7 and those which are so will be ready to be so which St. Paul does seem to intimate and insinuate here in this place As if he had said thus much If we are ignorant we should be content to silent if we thought there would nothing come on it we should let men go on in their sins without interruption and say nothing at all to them of them let them sleep in an whole skin and go to Hell and our selves with them but as for us we know better we are not ignorant of this one thing That all men shall appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive according to that which he hath done in his body whether it be good or evil We are sensible of the thing it self the day of judgment and of the great danger which lies upon those which are neglectful of it And therefore we can't but speak of such things as these are Secondly Knowing in a way of certainty and in opposition to conjecture Knowing that is knowing perfectly of exactly fo as it is in 2 Thes 5.2 Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night c. There are many things which we have sometimes some kind of hint of but we are not altogether sure of them but only by guess we think they may be so but we are not sure they are so yea but now this business which the Apostle here speaks of was of another nature it was that which he knew that is it was that which he had a clear and manifest discovery of to him and therefore it was that he was so earnest about it For men to vent their meer fancies an conceits and speculations for Truths and to impose them upon others judgments and belief that may carry a great deal of weakness and imprudence in it to say no worse of it yea but St Paul here went upon a better ground and argument Therefore here it was as our blessed Saviour exprest himself sometimes to Nicodemus We speak that we do know and testifie that which we have seen and therefore ye are to receive our witness John 3.11 3. Knowing in a way of Consideration in opposition to forgetfulness or non-attendency There are many things which we know habitually which yet we do not know actually that is which we know but we do not remember or think of them and reflect upon them And the want of Knowledg thus is a great occasion of the neglect of our Duty in many things which are to be done by us But where this is it is a great help unto it and so it was here in this particular case with the Apostles in the discharge of their Ministry who because they did not only believe but also remember and frequently consider and meditate upon this terrour of the Lord in their own minds and spirits therefore consequently did so diligently commend it to the thoughts and hearts of Gods People and put them upon the study of it also And thus have we seen the full Emphasis of this word Knowing as it lyes here before us in the Text as a word of Intelligence as a word of Assurance as a word of Remembrance For a further account yet still of the practice of the Apostles here exprest in these words Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men We may take notice of a threefold Illustration which is observable and considerable in it First The principle or foundation whereupon it was laid Secondly The matter or argument which it was conversant about Thirdly The method or order for the carriage of it 1. The principle and foundation whereupon this practice of the Apostles in their perswading of men was laid and that was Knowlege knowing we perswade We never do any thing as we should do at least in that manner as we should do especially in the work of the Ministry till we hold our selves to this We then perswade most effectually when we perswade knowingly Thus in the beginning of this Chapter We know c. that we have a building of God an house c. 2. Here was the matter which this his perswasion was conversant about and that was of judgment to come a principal and fundamental point of Christian Religion as we find it to be declared in Heb. 6.2 This was that which he prest upon Christians and others in the course of his Ministry as we may observe in divers instances of it Thus when he preached at Athens to the Philosophers
Thes 1.5 This is that which becomes a servant of Christ as the best principle of all to work upon namely his own knowledg and experience of those things which he speaks of But of this we may have occasion to treat more anon out of the words themselves 2. As here 's an account of his practice from the principle of it so likewise from the matter and the thing it self which was handled by him which is by beginning with terror and laying judgment before them and the last judgment in particular This is the course which is taken by him for the more effectual progress of his Ministry to lay the ground-work and foundation in this And it so was likewise with him elsewhere Thus he dealt with the men of Athens Act. 17. 30 31. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every-where to repent because he bath appointed a day in which be will judg he worlds So he began likewise with Felix Act. 24.25 He reasoned before him of righteousness and temperance and judgment of come So Heb. 6.2 Amongst the rest of the first Elements of Christain Religion we find there reckoned eternal judgment as that which is mainly and principally to be known and studied by a Christian as preparatory and introductory to many other Doctrines besides 3. We may likewise here take notice of the order and method which is observed by him in all this which is first of all informing himself and then instructing of others Here 's scientes prinsquaâ—â— suademus First Knowing and after that perswading There are some which invert this order Begin first with perswading and then come to knowing aftewards Which will be teachers before they are learners which will take upon them to instruct ere themselves are sufficiently instructed But this is not the Apostles method here in this place who begins at the right end and that which is most natural and probable to know before he makes known And thus much by way of preparation of these words in their dependance and connexion We come now closer to the parts themselves Where we have these two particulars considerable First The work it self and that is we perswade men Secondly The principle of this working or the Motive that put them upon it Knowing the terror of the Lord. We begin with the last first which is first in the order of the words as it is also in the nature of the thing and that is the nature or principle of working Knowing the terror of the Lord. Wherein again two particulars more First The object propounded and that is the terror of the Lord. Secondly The apprehension of this object in reference to the mind c. Knowing the terror of the Lord. The Vulgar Latine gives it Timorem Domini the fear of the Lord which is a little more mollified and restrained The Arabick Interpreter for fail puts them in both Timorem reverentiam Domini Terrorem takwi trabbi wa-hashaitiho Erasmus simpliciter terrorem which is also followed by our own Translators as best agreeing with the drift of the place which is that which we will now keep unto 1. I say here 's the Object propounded The terror of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was that which the Apostle knew and desired also to make known unto them for their edification and spiritual improvement It 's called the terror of the Lord emphatically and exclusively as hereby shutting out any other terror besides which does not so well consist with this for we must know that there are sometimes false terrors as well as true There are terrores Satanae as well as terrores Domini and these are very cautelously to be distinguish't one from the other The Devil as he has his false comforts and raptures and elevations so he has likewise his false fears and astonishments and dejections whereby he does sometimes depress and keep down the hearts of Gods People in his uncomfortable representations in his suggestions to despair in his dreadful prognostications and the like These are such kind of things as are very sad and terrible and which St. Paul also knew well enough and was sufficiently acquainted withal He was not ignorant of Satans devices whereby he labours to affright men and to take them off from doing of their duty and that work which does belong unto them through their too much attendance hereunto But he does not make any of these to be a ground for his ministerial perswasions no but the terror of the Lord those terrors which God himself makes and which are of his allowance and approbation What kind of terrors are those may it be here demanded Let us hear of them what they are and what is meant here by them in this expression which we here meet withal in the Text. For these there are divers kinds of them we may reduce them briefly to three heads which as I think will reach this phrase in the full extent and latitude of it 1. The terror of the Word in the threatnings and comminations of it wherein is revealed from Heaven the wrath of God against all unrighteousness as the Apostle speaks in Rom. 1.18 This is one terror of the Lord and a very great terror it is if it be duly considered there 's a mighty power in the work of God set on by the assistance of Gods Spirit for the terrifying of the most secure sinner and driving him out of that condition and presumption and stupidity of mind in which he lyes The Word of God is powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit c. Heb. 4.12 And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God c. says the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.4 This we see in Paul to Felix who whiles he Preach'd before him astonish'd him and caused him to tremble 2. The terror of Divine Impression upon the heart and conscience This is sometimes called in Scripture the terror of the Almighty which Joâ— and David Heman and such as these did sometimes partake of when God himself appears as an Enemy and does immedlately wrestle and conflict with the inwards of any poor soul and write bitter things against it This is likewise the terror of the Lord and such as does indeed carry a great deal of terribleness with it but yet that 's not all which is meant here in this place 3. The terror of Judgment and more especially of the day of Judgment that 's likewise the terror of the Lord and it is that which is also principally intended here in this present Scripture which relates to that which was mentioned in the verse immediately preceding We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive c. Now knowing the or as some that terror of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the demonstrative particle we do therefore perswade so that the terror of the Lord is as
much as the day of the Lord together with all the consequents and circumstances of it which does carry a great deal of fear and astonishment with it It does so and it deserves to do so in these respects First From the severity of the proceedings in the ordering and managing of it which shall be with a great deal of terror In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Is not this very terrible and a dispensation of much severity it cannot be denied And therefore those that think otherwise are mistaken and exceedingly deceived of that day it is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wastness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess c. Zeph. 1.15 And as it is so in it self so it is especially so to all wicked and ungodly persons to them it is the terror of the Lord with a witness from the guiltiness which is upon them This is that which properly gives this denomination unto it if we take it abstractly considered in it self or in reference to the Children of God so it shall not have such terror or dreudfulness in it those alone who are reconciled to God through Christ upon them it shall have another impression and another notion as it is the day of refreshment the day of redemption the day of restitution the day of recompence and reward The second is the Apprehension of this object in reference to the mind and understanding and that is knowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We see here upon what terms we proceed in Christianity and Religion not upon meerer fancies only and conjectures and bare probabilities but upon a certainty and good assurance Divinity it is a matter of Knowledg and it is the excellency of it that it is so elpecially compared with some other things in the world which are of another nature it stands upon good grounds as the bottom and foundation of it which is the Word of truth it self Thus 2 Pet. 1.16 We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his majesty c. And v. 19. We have also a more sure word of prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place c. This is the Scripture and Word of God But how did Paul know this which he here speaks of this Terrour of the Lord and the accurateness of this judgment of Christ which he had before mentioned and here refers to He knew it divers ways First By immediate revelation and inspiration from God himself it was delivered to him from the Lord as he says elsewhere of other truths I have received from the Lord that which I have delivered unto you It pleased God from Heaven to inform him and to acquaint him with this Divine truth concerning the Judgment to come together with some circumstances which shall attend it which he does discover as a profound mystery in some other places And that which he had as it were even from Gods own mouth and intimation of that he might very well say that he knew it as here he does knowing it by revelation Secondly He knew it also by Discourse and collection of one thing from another There 's very good reason for it that there should be such a day as this is the day of Judgment and that God should call men to an account hereafter for that which they do now in the flesh It 's very agreeable to the justice of God a righteous thing with him as it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2 Thes 1.6 When we shall consider that little recompence or reward is give here below either to good or bad we may from hence very rationally conclude that there is another time and place for it which shall not escape it That which seems to make most against it with carnal and secure persons is the delay and procrastination of it because it is not presently therefore they conclude that it will not be at all as those mockers in Peter Where is the promise of his coming c. But as the Apostle there resolves it Gods slackness is only long-suffering Patientia est non negligentia as Austin to the same effect Non ille potentiam perdidit sed nos ad poenitentiam reservavit c. de Verb. Apost Ser. 20. Some read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the subjunctive and so make it a matter of counsel and exhortation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Oecumenius But I think we need not do that I shall rather take it as it is here offered in the Indicative It is an expression which carries a various emphasis in it Thirdly He knew it also by Experience and by some sense of it upon himself in his own heart he knew it thus As he was wrapt up into Paradise and carried unto the Third Heaven so he was likewise cited to Christs Tribunal and brought before his Judgment-seat in his own soul and consicence S. Paul did not speak of these things at random and loosely but he had some practical apprehensions of them from where he knew them and did therefore to much the more boldly and freely and confidently discourse of them to other men There 's no man that knows what sin is but he consequently knows what judgment is and by the sight of the one is lead to the preconception of the other forasuch as sin in the guilt and nature of it summons to Judgment This was the Apostles great advantage in this business which he discoursed about that he spoke of it from his own spirit with some kind of sense and feeling of it which is that which all other Ministers should labour and endeavour to do in the whole course of their Ministry and in the Doctrines which are delivered by them First to work and fasten and imprint them upon them own hearts and then from thence to commend them to their hearers with the greater efficacy and success that so even in this sense likewise as well as in regard of affection they may impart unto them not the Gospel of God only but also their own souls 1 Thes 2.8 as being sensible and really satisfied in that which they deliver And thus much of the first thing here considerable in this first General of the Ministerial performance viz. the Motive Knowing the terror c. The second is the Work it self We perswade men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where again four things more whereof two exprest and two implied First What. Secondly Whom Thirdly For what or what to Fourthly Upon what ground There 's the Act and the Object and the End or
and strengthen their faith and to take notice of such Dispensations as these to them we should not shut our eyes upon God's Providence in this particular but observe them and lay them to heart and be affected with them it is that which God expects from us in a suitableness to his dealings with us and that in the midst of many troubles which are upon us yet still see how God does deliver us So likewise for spiritual deliverances to apply it to that also God does here deliver after deliverances The vertue and efficacy of Christs Death which hath purchased deliverance for us it is extended beyond the time of his suffering to all following generations Now does Christ deliver us and now does he offer deliverance to us in such Ordinances as these are and now does his spirit strive with us and move us and incite us to good To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts c. which should move us also to take the present opportunity And so now I have done likewise with the second General part of the Text and that is the signification of a deliverance present exhibited to us in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And doeth deliver The third and last is the prognostication of a deliverance to come in these words In whom we trust also that he will yet deliver us We see here this excellent gradation how the Apostle proceeds from one thing to another from time past to time present and from time present to time to come What may we observe from hence Namely thus much That deliverances which are past are a very good ground for the hoping and expecting of deliverances to come or if ye will thus God that has delivered hitherto he will likewise deliver again Thus does Paul reason here he delivered us from the great danger in Asia and he will deliver us hereafter from others as occasion is afforded unto him and as we have for our part need of it Thus also in another place 2 Tim. 4.18 speaking of his deliverance from Nero I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work He infers one deliverance from another yea a general deliverance from a particular God had delivered him from that cruel Tyrant whom for his fierceness he calls a Lyon and from hence he concludes that he would deliver him from the suffering of any evil work besides for so we may understand it if we please not actively only but passively as from doing evil works himself so from suffering evil works from others in their attempts against him This was likewise the reasoning of David 1 Sam. 17.37 The Lord hath delivered me out of the paw of the Lyon and out of the paw of the Bear and be will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine So again Psal 22.4 Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them What does he suppose from hence why that accordingly he would deliver himself too This is the sweetest heavenly reasoning of the Saints and Servants of God even to argue thus with themselves and to draw deductions and conclusions of expectation from former experience What God will do from what he has done and that also upon weighty Considerations First His Ability and Power In men this is many times defective so that we cannot so happily conclude of the one from the other of future goodness from former because their power and opportunity may be gone and they may not be so able to do that which has been formerly done by them but now as for God there 's no such fear his strength and power is the same that ever it was and what he has been formerly he is able to do the same still his hand is not shortned that it cannot save nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear power and strength is his he is the rock of ages our Almighty God and mighty to save Ye know a spring or fountain it issues out streams continually in omne volubilis as you see water coming out of it to day so you expect it in like manner to morrow And why so why because it is a spring it has an indeficient sufficiency in it And this now is the Lord to his Servants he is a spring of preservations to them his Power is inexhaustible and so he is a Sun as he calls himself Psal 84.11 The Lord is a sun and shield a Sun which has light continually proceeding from it This is a very good Argument to reason froth as the three Children in the fiery furnace Dan. 3.17 The God whom we fear is able to deliver us And what follows thereupon and he will deliver us out of thine hand O king he is able and therefore he will in God it is a very good Argument in such cases as these are So to his Power we may joyn also his skill Those which do things by art and skill they can do them again wheras those which do them by chance and hap-hazard once is enough and sufficient for them Now the Lord he is a person of skill as men are for their parts skilful to destroy so is he for his part skilful to deliver And then further here is an Argument likewise from the greater to the less he that has done the one he can do the other too he that has delivered from so great a death he can much more deliver from a less or smaller danger where it happens unto us and that 's the first foundation of this Confidence viz. God's Ability and Power Secondly There is in God a perpetuity of affection too It is of the Lords mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Lam. 3.22 The Lord 's an unchangable God and therefore he will deliver for time to come as well as for time past I the Lord change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 there 's a great matter in that especially if we shall consider that himself is the original of the mercies and deliverances which he vouchsafes That he loves us freely and not so much for any thing in our selves If it were founded in us we had then little cause to expect it or to look for it because we for our part are ever and anon out of frame we are such as do continually provoke him and give him occasion very frequently to suspend his goodness towards us but the comfort is that lies in himself and in his own gracious nature and essence which is not subject to any kind of change or alteration at all Thirdly There is in God exactness and a desire to finish and perfect his own work now this he should not be able to do if together with deliverances which are past he should not join deliverances to come The deliverances of the Church of God though they are so many distinct actions consisting of distinct moments in a succession and
as the former nor pressing or standing upon any thing so much as it is done by himself but rather as it is injoyn'd by Christ So did the Apostle Paul here in this present Text as in other places As many as walk by this rule There 's but one additional word more which I touch and have done which belongs to the qualification of the persons in the close of the Text And upon the Israel of God How does this now come in upon the former and what may be the meaning of it There be divers things which may be couch'd in it First We have here a General direction to be observed by us as to the ordering of our Prayers which is still in them to be mindful of the Church and People of God and the flourishing state and prosperity of that Hence 't is so often still in the Psalms But peace upon Israel an peace upon Israel and peace upon Israel Psal 125.5 Psal 128.6 Psal 131.3 Still Israel is sure to come in for a share in Blessing David could seldom make a Prayer to God upon any other occasion besides but he is still mindful in it of the Church and of the common welfare of Gods People If I forget thee c. Psal 137.5 Thus it should also be with us we should be much in our requests to God for that and for the peace of it forasmuch as it is our common concernment and in the peace thereof we our selves shall have peace As all the members and several parts of the natural body have a share in the health and welfare of that body Secondly In this Expression we have a description of the condition of true Christians which is to be such as prevail with God and are Princes with him as Israel signifies and as Israel was All Gods People they have Power with him and can obtain great things from him in their Petitions and Requests which they make to him They are the Lords remembrancers which give him no rest day nor night till he have establish'd and made Jerusalem a praise in the earth as it is in Isa 62.6 7. Thirdly And principally in this Expression we have a distinction of those which are the true People of God from pretenders and a secret oblique gird at some of the Jews in this particular who stood much upon their Parentage and Birth and Nation an the like that they were the seed of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so Israelites according to the flesh For this the Apostle here intimates to them what he does also in another place Rom. 9.6 That they are not all Israel which are of Israel the Israel of God that is the Israel which worships God and is accepted of him according to that in Phil. 3.3 We are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh And Rom. 2.28 29. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly c. but he is a Jew which is one inwardly c. The Israel of God are the same here in this Text with those whom in another place of this Epistle Gal. 3.7 He calls the children of Abraham by faith These he looks upon as most interested in this Blessing so that these words are not to be taken in opposition to the other but by way rather of Explication So much for that and also of this whole Text As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God SERMON XLIII 1 Thes 5.3 For when they shall say Peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape It is the account which the Preacher Solomon gives us of the nature of Man being corrupted now through his Fall that he knows not his own time But as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them in Eccles 9.12 And it is the censure which the Prophet Jeremy passes to the like purpose upon the same kind of persons That the Stork in the Heaven knows her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of the Lord Jer. 8.7 And this is also here signified to us in this Scripture which we have still before us where the Apostle Paul making mention of the day of Christ's coming to Judgment does represent it as a matter of surprisal and disappointment to the Sons of men The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night For when they shall say Peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child c. Which latter verse especially is that which is to be handled by us at this present time as an inlargement and confirmation of the former which we spake to the day before IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable The supposition and the inference The supposition that is of the sin to wit security in these words When they say Peace and safety The inference that 's of the punishment to wit sudden destruction in these words Then sudden destruction cometh upon them c. We begin with the first of these parts viz. The supposition as pointing out the sin which is security in these words When they say Peace and safety Where it is supposed and taken for granted that there are some kind ofpersons in the world which do indeed speak so that say Peace and safety that is which do conclude upon absolute quite and freedom from evil as happening unto them And so indeed there are wicked and carnal people the Atheists and men of the world this is that which they do commonly say as is observable in them And this is that which is here supposed of them when we say that they say it this saying of theirs is to be taken in its full latitude and that according to a threefold Explication First They say it mentally they say it in their minds Secondly They say it verbally they say it in their mouths Thirdly They say it practically or really they say it in their lives and carriages and conversations All these manner of ways they say it First I say they say it mentally they say it in their minds Worldly men they do very much conclude and make account of their worldly prosperity and of the continuance of it to themselves Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling-places to all generations as the Psalmist speaks Psal 49.11 And again Psal 10.6 He hath said in his heart I shall not be moved for I shall never be in adversity And so for Babylon the Prophet Isaiah expresses himself thus to her Thou that art given to pleasure that dwellest carelesly that sayest
child and they shall not escape Which passage may be looked upon by us two manner of ways Either first of all simply and absolutely as it lyes in it self Or secondly Relatively and Comparatively as it carries a dependance upon that which went before First To look upon it in its simple and absolute Consideration Wherein again we have two branches more First The condition it self or punishment mentioned Secondly The amplification or aggravation of this punishment and condition The condition or punishment mentioned that 's exprest in the word destruction The amplification of this punishment and condition that 's exprest in these words It cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape it First For the condition or punishment it self which is here threatned to such kind of persons which were before mentioned it is signified to be destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a very terrible word and we may look upon it as it here lies in the Text according to a threefold Gradation First In its Negative conception Secondly In its Positive And thirdly In its Superlative This word destruction as it is here mentioned carries each of these intimations with it First It has its Negative acception It is destruction it is not peace and safety It was peace and safety which those secure and presumptuous persons before spoken of promised to themselves and pleased themselves in the thoughts of but there 's no such thing happens to them and so it is a frustration and disappointment This is the lot and condition all along of wicked men that they have that least of all which they most of all look for they are cut short both of their desires and expectations which do fail and come to nought The reason of it is this because they go upon an ill ground and foundation where the foundation is but weak the building which is raised upon it must needs sink and fall to the ground Now thus are the hopes and expectations of all wicked persons whiles they say peace and safety they are upon a weak and false bottom and ground which they proceed upon and that is fancy and lust and humor and such things as these and what can follow upon such proceedings as these but even miscarriage and disappointment it self the hope of the Hypocrite shall perish This is good to be taken notice of by us as a check upon all such extravagances as those are to restrain and keep men within the bounds of majesty and holy Awfulness that they may not be too full of confidence and vain expectations as they are sometimes subject to be which there is nothing does so much cure them of as experience and sense of that which is otherwise as it is here declared to be in this Scripture They said peace and safety and behold no such matter it is destruction That 's the first acception of it in the Negative what it was not But secondly Here 's also the Positive what it was and that was the quite contrary and opposite hereunto it was so far from being peace and safety as that instead of it it was affliction and trouble God does not content himself only to disappoint wicked men of their hopes and of the of the good which they expected but also to surprize them with fears and the evils which they have not expected Instead of peace to follow them with horror and instead of safety to expose them to danger not only to punish them with the punishment of loss but with punishment of sense They wait for light but behold obscurity for brightness but they walk in darkness Isa 59.9 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after other gods Psal 16. Ways of wickedness are ways of affliction to such persons as walk in them so far are they from peace and safety But thirdly That 's not all here 's the Superlative sense also which is considerable of us and that is dectruction and absolute ruine which carries it further yet for the compleating of the punishment of such persons they are not only disappointed of that peace and safety which they expected nor they are not only exercised with that affliction which is quite contrary thereunto but they are moreover absolutely destroyed and brought to nought Vpon the wicked God shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horribla tempest this shall be the portion of their cup Psal 11.6 Destruction it is of two sorts and comes under a double Consideration either as temporal or as Eternal and each of them are here considerable as the reward of wicked men both one and t'other First For Temporal destruction they have oftentimes a great share in this as it respects this present world God does oftentimes bring strange judgments and calamities upon them and therefore Job puts that question Is there not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity Is there not that is indeed there is it is a question that carries a strong assertion and asseveration with it there are many persons who by their dissolute courses do bring outward ruin and misery upon themselves and do undo themselves as to this present world But secondly As for Eternal destruction this does to be sure more especially fall upon them as most proper to them Destruction that is damnation and the punishment of body and soul for ever in Hell This is that which here seems more especially to be intended in the Text though the other is not excluded because the Apostle here speaks more particularly of the day of the Lord that is as I have already shewn and of the day of judgment with the consequents of it Now this is that which in that day shall be inflicted upon such kind of people The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God Psal 9.17 This is the sentence which Christ shall pass upon them when he sits upon his Throne of Judgment Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Matth. 25.41 And accordingly it is there said that they shall go away into everlasting punishment ver 46 of the same Chapter And 2 Thes 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power And thus much of the condition it self or punishment mentioned in the word destruction which we have considered three manner of ways in its Negative sense in its Positive and in its Superlative The second is the amplification or aggravation of this condition which is considerable in three things more First In the suddenness of it Secondly In the vehemency of it And thirdly In the unavoidableness each of which are illustrated from a very proper and significant similitude of travail upon a woman with child as most lively expressing it We begin with the first aggravation and that is the suddenness or speediness of it it is sudden destruction
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this agrees very well with the resemblance which we had before in the verse immediately preceeding where it was said The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night A thief he comes on the sudden before people are aware of him and so does also this destruction here mentioned it is a surprizal and takes them on the sudden Therefore it is again also very fitly compared and resembled to travail of a woman with child which comes on the sudden whereby the party her self does not think of it or imagine it will come whiles she is minding other things her travail surprizes her This at the first apprehension may seem to be somewhat otherwise for a woman in travail has a great deal of warning given her before her travail comes in the expectation of so many months going before which is so eminent as that it is emphatically call'd so the time in which she looks Therefore it is not an absolute surprize for she expects it and makes account of it and calls it her reckoning but yet it is said to be sudden for all that and that in this Consideration First Because though the time it self be fixt and determin'd yet she for her particular may mistake in the determination of that time she may carry it either nearer or further off than she should or than it is and so when it comes it comes on the sudden because she is not certainly advised of the coming of it Secondly Though the time in General might be guest at yet the particular moment and instant is uncertain it comes on a sudden so namely as to the direct hour and present season of it Thirdly Though it may be certain regularly yet it is very uncertain accidentally because there are many abortions and mischances and miscarriages which in such cases she is subject unto And thus is it answerable in this business whereof we now speak as to the judgment of wicked men it may be very well said to be sudden destruction even as travail upon a woman with child because though they have many warnings and admonitions of it afore-hand yet they themselves do not ordinarily so observe them or take notice of them And though they cannot but make account of the thing it self yet the particular time and instant of it as in the other is unknown unto them God shall shoot at them with an arrow and suddenly shall they be wounded Psal 64.7 There are two things especially which do make up the suddenness of Gods Judgment to wicked men the one is in the carriage and proceeding of the thing it self and the other is in reference to their minds and apprehensions concerning it It is sudden destruction in both these regards First As to the thing it self it is oftentimes sudden so Forasmuch as God does sometimes haften it and precipate it more than ordinary and brings it sooner than usually he does or otherwise he would Why shouldst thou dye before thy time Ecclef 7.17 So it is also shortned in some sense for the reprobates sake to hasten their punishment for hereafter The intolerable impudence and abominable carriage of some wicked person it does sometimes hasten this Providential travail and makes it to come sooner than it would do God's patience is so much abased by them as that he can no longer indure them He that being often reproved hardneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Prov. 29.1 And again Deut. 32.34 35. Is not this saith the Lord laid up in store with me and sealed among my treasures To me belongeth vengeance and recompence their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that come upon them make haste And in 2 Pet. 2.1 3. It is said that they bring upon themselves swift destruction that their judgment lingers not and their damnation slumbers not though they slumber themselves Thus it is sudden destruction as to the thing it self in regard of the carriage and proceeding of it But secondly It is sudden also in regard of their own minds and apprehensions concerning it The travail of a woman with child is sudden in the greatest vigilancy and watchfulness about it But she may make it so much the suddener to her self as she is mindless and regardless of it and takes not care to provide for it even so is it also here in this particular God's Judgment it is sudden it self oftentimes as he orders it but it is so more especially to wicked men which are unprepared and unprovided for it To such as these it is sudden judgment and sudden destruction That 's the first aggravation which is here considerable to wit the suddenness of it The second is the vehemency or violence of it that 's in the word cometh as we translate it but in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies properly it stands over them or rushes and presses hard upon them it comes with a full torrent and stream in great force for the manner of its proceeding as the travail of a woman with child which has its pangs and its throws with it even so does this destruction invade wicked men The third and last is the unavoidableness of it and they shall not escape 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two ways especially for the escaping of any evil or calamity the one is by way of privation that it may not be at all and so to escape it is to divert it the other is by way of removal that it may not continue there where it is and so to escape it is to expel it and to drive it away Now each of these ways of escape are here signified to be denied to such persons as these were There shall sudden destruction come upon them and they shall not escape it that is they shall not obstruct it or hinder it that it may not be and there shall sudden destruction come upon them and they shall not escape it that is they shall not remove it or take it off there where it comes Both of these are here intimated to us whiles it is said That they shall not escape As to keep still close to the comparison or similitude which we have here in the Text of the travailing of a woman with child A woman in such a case as that is she cannot prevent her travail that it should not come nor she cannot put away her travail at such a time as it does come no more shall wicked persons be able to do with this destruction from God which is here threatned to them They shall not escape it to divert it nor they shall not escape it to remove it it shall come whether they will or no and it shall continue whether they will or no likewise First I say It shall come and seize upon them whether they will or no they shall not be able to divert it or escape it so
Thus 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye are an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Every good Christian he hath great interest in Heaven and can very much prevail with God through Christ in his approaches to the Throne of Grace And we have frequent instances and examples of it both in Scripture and in daily experience Secondly As to the keeping of themselves from the pollutions and defilements of the world The Priests they were prohibited the touching of those things which were unclean and so are Christians careful to keep themselves unspotted of the world Thirdly As to the teaching and instructing of others in the Communion of Saints The Priests lips should preserve knowledg Mal. 2.7 And so should every Christian also in his way and within his compass Parents and Masters of Families should be thus far Priests in them as with Abraham to teach their children and their housholds after them Gen. 18.19 c. Fourthly As to the offering up of themselves to God they must be Priests in this respect also The Priests they were used and imployed in the killing of beasts so should Christians be in slaying of their lusts and unruly affections And then the High-Priest especially he entered into the Sanctum Sanctorum so should every Christian have his heart always towards the Holy of Holies c. Lastly The Priests they still blest the people so would the mouths of Christians do others with whom they converse 1 Pet. 3.9 not railing but contrarily blessing c. The sum of all comes to this namely to raise the esteem and opinion of Gods people in the world and from hence to set an high price and valuation upon them The world it commonly looks upon the Saints and Servants of God as a base and contemptible generation but see here what names and titles the Spirit of God in Scripture puts upon them namely of Kings and Priests which have the greatest Dignity and Excellency in them of any other whatsoever These they are so to God and the Father howsoever they be to any other that is not only to his service but likewise to his Approbation The Father is here named as the first in order and fountain of the Godhead though the whole Trinity be included and intended in it So much for that And then there is this Use also of it in the close of the verse To him be Glory for ever and ever c. And so I have done also with the third and last Description of Christ in the execution of his Offices And hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father Now to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen SERMON XLVIII Revel 22.17 And the Spirit and the Bride say Come This Text which I have now read unto you is a further improvement of that Scripture which was handled by us the last day and does contain somewhat in it as additional and accumulative thereunto For there we had propounded to us but only the hope and expectation of Christians as those which looked for the Lord Jesus Christ to come from Heaven out of that place of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians Chap. 3. ver 20. And here we have exhibited to us their desire and earnest importunity so that he comes not before he is welcome and he is not more certainly expected than he is gladly and joyfully entertained For the Spirit and the Bride say Come That is the Church by the secret suggestion and instigation of the Holy Ghost towards her does invite him and call for him and hasten him towards his second Appearing This is the scope and drift of the Text. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Persons mentioned Secondly The action which is attributed unto these Persons The Persons mentioned they are the Spirit and the Bride The action which is attributed to these Persons that is a calling after Christ they say to him Come We begin with the former viz. the Persons mentioned The Spirit and the Bride By the Spirit we are here to understand the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God which is called the Spirit by way of Excellency the third Person in the blessed Trinity And by the Bride we are to understand either the Church of God in general or every faithful and believing soul which is a member of Christ in particular These are the Persons here that speak And we must take them in a mutual reference and connexion of one with another The Spirit speaks in the Bride and the Bride speaks from and by the Spirit And so they both speak together and have the same action ascribed unto them First Here 's mention made of the Spirit and that as considerable of us under a twofold notion First Of his Presence and secondly of his Influence Of his Presence as join'd with the Bride of his Influence as assistant unto her and helping and enabling of her First Here 's the Spirits presence the Spirit and the Bride they are joined both together to signifie and intimate unto us that special residence which the Holy Ghost hath in all true Believers where-ever there is the Bride there 's the Spirit that is where-ever there is any true Christian there 's the Holy Ghost abiding in him And so the Scripture sets it in sundry places of it as 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you And so Chap. 6. v. 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you So again Ephes 2.22 In whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit The Spirit of God resides both in the whole Church at large as also in every particular Believer as the soul is in the whole Body and also in every particular member Therefore we may accordingly know whether we are espoused to Christ or no upon this account and consideration If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Because where ever there is the Spouse there 's the Spirit It holds both as a discovery of Churches and as a discovery of Persons As a discovery of Churches to distinguish the true from the false and as a discovery of persons to distinguish the sound from the Hypocritical Again as it is distinguishing so it is also comforting It is a great satisfaction to the Church in the present withdrawing and absentation of Christ from her that his Spirit is yet with her that he does not leave her altogether destitute in an orphan-like or fatherless condition as himself hath sometime exprest it Joh. 14.18 but that he does provide for the supply of her I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive as it is also there in that Chapter And again Chap. 16.
are upon good Grounds perswaded of our interest and relation to Christ who is so desirable and again also perswaded of his acceptance and imbracement of us as so related to him We shall then with a great deal of earnestness long after him So much for that and so much for this present Text. SERMON XLIX Revel 22.17 And let him that heareth say Come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely I made choice of this Verse at first but in reference to the former part of it as that which was most consonant and agreeable to the Scripture immediately preceding in the course of our Ministry And this as ye know we dispatch't the last day But I have thought it since in a manner necessary or at least very convenient to take in this part to the other to be handled with it as containing the second Branch of that Communion which does mutually pass betwixt Christ and the Church The Application of the Church to Christ that we had exprest in those words The Spirit and the Bride say Come And here now in the words that follow at this time with Gos gracious assistance to be explained by us we have the reflexious of Christ upon the Church and his desires of further fellowship and communion with her in those words which I have now read unto you And let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely Which besides other conveniencies and correspondencies which are observable in it carries a very good agreement with that other Ordinance which has already this day been dispensed amongst us in our approaches to the table of the Lord. IN the Text it self there are three General Parts considerable First A provocation of desire or longing affection Let him that heareth say Come Secondly An invitation of access or seasonable application Let him that is athirst come Thirdly An intimation of acceptance or grateful entertainment And whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely We begin with the first of those Parts viz. The provocation of desire in those words Let him that heareth say Come Where the subject mentioned and called upon He that heareth is indefinitely exprest but the expression is to be limited according to the proper references of it which as they lye in the Context are reducible to a three-fold Object or voice to be heard First To the voice of Christ in the Ministry Secondly To the voice of the Spirit in the Conscience And Thirdly To the voice of the Spouse in the Church He that heareth that is that heareth either of these Let him that heareth c. First To the voice of Christ in the Ministry This hearing it refers to this this we have signisied to us in the verse immediately preceding the Text viz. ver 16. of this Chapter I Jesus have sent mine Angel to testifie these things unto you c. Now he that heareth this Testimony or Prophetical and Ministerial voice and that heareth it in good earnest and to purpose let him shew that he indeed does so by this influence and effect of it upon him so as to desire this coming of Christ and so there is this in it That those that are partakers of the Doctrine of Christ they should labour to be affected to the person of Christ those that have notice given them of his coming they should accordingly desire that he would come those that hear his voice they should desire to see his countenance This is one thing which seems here to be hinted to us in this present expression There are two things which the Word of God does in the Ministry of it which are especially available for the provoking of our desires after Christ The one is as it propounds the excellency of Christ and shews us what he is and the other as it reveals the purposes of Christ and tells us what he intends and both of these are joyned here together in this present Chapter the former we have in these words I am the root and off-spring of David and the bright and morning-star in the clause immediately foregoing Here is a proposal of Christ in his Excellencies and the good that comes by him the latter we have in these words wherein he sigaifies that he is minded to come in the 7th and 12th verses of this Chapter Behold I come quickly c. I come that is I mean to come here 's a discovery of interests desires and resolutions in himself Now take these two I say both together Christs Excellency and his own offer and voluntary exhibition of himself and here we cannot now but close with him Those that partake of such gracious opportunities afforded unto them they are engaged to all suitable affection for the compliance with them those that thus hear must say Come Therefore this justly meets with all such persons as are otherwise affected There are a great many of people in the world who do sometimes hear tydings of Christ and do sometimes seem to be well pleased with such points as are discoveries of him but yet in the mean time how little succour or relish of him or love and affection unto him but are as carnal and sensual and worldly and earthly minded as ever Now such as these do plainly declare that their hearing it is to little or no purpose for if it were that which it should be it would have an answerable effect with it so as to work them to some gracious breathings and longings after him Every good and right hearer of Christ is more or less inflamed with affections and desires unto Christ and is in a manner restless till he attains to some enjoyment of him And so indeed it is required and expected of him that he should be as the Text here seems to import in the carriage and laying of it which does infer the one upon the other crying and calling after Christ upon the mentioning and hearing of Christ Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me says Christ and so desires that I should come to him which is all one Joh. 6.45 He that hath heard and learned that is that hath heard profitably and to purpose This is the effect that followeth upon it and it is hereby evidenced and demonstrated to be that which it is So then this is that which we should look after in all our approaches to the hearing of the Word namely to examine what work and operation it has upon our hearts and to see that the working of it be answerable to the nature of the Doctrine which is delivered unto us If it be a word of threatning that it work in us a trembling frame and disposition of spirit if it be a word of command an obedient if it be a word of promise a comfortable if it be a word of excitement an awakening still what the
signifies 408 Counsel Listning to good counsel a threefold Argument of VVisdom 224 How far the counsels of God may be known how not 258 Means tending to the knowing of Gods counsels 258 Company The danger arising by bad Company 368 Cities Why God often sends greater judgments on them than other places 401 D Despise The ways wherein God is despised 114 119 Whence despising of God springs 116 The danger of despising God 117 Dregs What they signifie 135 Death Comfort against it 192 Sinful in three cases to desire it 413 Discord The evil of it implied 197 198 Whence it springs 222 Delight What in Christians God delights in 208 The properties of Gods delighting in his people 209 Signs of Gods delighting in us 211 The ground of it or what it is 220 A threefold delight respecting Religion 221 Doubtings Whence they arise 211 Day The Sabbath a pleasant day 218 Day of the Lord taken three ways 412 A threefold wicked desiring a day of the Lord or death 412 The day of Judgment desirable on a threefold account 416 Darkness What it signifies in Scripture 352 Day of the Lord darkness to wicked men with the ground thereof 41 Day of the Lord darkness and not light threefold Emphasis in it 148 Devouring What signified by it 379 Despair Motive to a despairing sinner to hope 385 The evil of despair 385 386 Whence it springs 386 E Eye Look on Christ with a fourfold eye 7 Gods Eye what it signifies 20 Gods Eye hath three properties 21 Examples Bad their evil 46 Examination Why we should be much in self-examination 245 England See Nation Deliverance from Gun-powder-treason a great Mercy 52 62 Error Prejudicial to the soul 303 394 377 On the right and on the left hand what 302 Ezekiel Why called the son of man 401 Feasts The evils oft attending them 79 When laudable 78 Faith Incouragements to it 150 Fruitfulness Arguments to it 189 Fear The advantages of holy fear 212 Forgetfulness Of God opened in four particulars 287 Formality See Hypocrite It s consistency with prophaneness 345 The dreadful evil of it 375 Setting of the face its different notion 402 G God His standing What 6 His face What 84 140 What the hiding of his face implied 85 96 VVhy resembled to the Sun 151 How to know he is our God 111 VVhat his being our God implies 111 God speaks to the hearts of men three ways 138 298 To seek Gods face VVhat 141 His wings VVhat 149 The ways wherein despised See despise God See forward Grace or Holiness See Godliness VVhy God will certainly perfect it 113 Whence indisposition and averseness unto it springs 384 A Christians duty disposition and priviledg to grow in it 306 Motives to recover decaying grace 306 307 A threefold difference between saving-grave and meer morality 308 Helps to recover decaying and strengthen weak grace 309 God What kind of shield he is 153 Gods comforts What 165 Why called the most high 183 Gods right hand What 183 Gods songs in the night What 202 Gods counsel how taken 253 What Gods saying signifies 278 A double object of Gods guidance 301 Godliness See Grace The gain of Godliness 224 Guide How to discern between the guidance or dictates of Gods Spirit and the spirit of delusion 303 H Hearing The right hearer 139 300 Why many get no good by hearing the word Preacked 139 140 385 Heart The speaking of the heart What 119 Gods trying it What 245 How taken 252 How a grieved heart eases it self 362 Discovery of a tender heart 365 Humbling Humbling considerations 251 253 392 Head What it signifies in Scripture 124 127 Head and tail how taken 273 Hypocrite See Professor See Formality Terror to Hypocrites 246 Condemned by God and often by conscience described 347 348 371 Its odiousness 347 Its danger 349 Hell How taken 282 How to escape it 288 Heathens What to think of those who never heard of Christ 287 I Inheritance Implies three things 50 Justification Why no condumnation to justified persons 95 Infancy Mercy vouchsafed in it See Mercy Judgments When God will pour them upon a people 133 Pouring out Judgments What Ibid Why God sometimes brings great Judgments upon his own people Ibid Dregy judgments What 135 How Christians foresee them 363 Who most like to be secured and who to be exposed under publick judgments 409 410 411 Joy When holy 177 Infirmities Whence they flow 178 Men have their especial infirmities 179 Wherein infirmity consists Ibid Impenitency See Presumption The evil of it 268 Ignorance Several sorts of it supplied 383 K Knowledg THe difference between saving and meerly notional Knowledg 148 L Loving-kindness Of God taken two ways 143 146 The excellency of Gods loving-kindness 144 Love How to keep our selves in the love of God 146 M Gospel-Ministers WHy called Angels 7 Caution to them 280 402 386 362 Direction to them 404 405 366 Ministerial Qualifications 399 A sad judgment to be deprived of their persons 403 Magistrates Why compared to a head 272 Mercy Outward when given in mercy 33 Outward Mercies in themselves good things 36 40 Mercies attending our Births See Births Mercies attending Infancy See Infancy The especial mercies of God 146 295 The extent of pardoning mercy 295 Meditation Whence holy meditation proceeds 170 311 Its objects 172 Helps to it 173 175 How taken 174 Its excellency above other duties 175 Motives to it 176 See its excellency When right 364 Melancholy The evil of it in a Christian more than others 220 Mind Express'd in Scripture by bowels the reason of it 360 Why a Christian minds heaven and heavenly things 311 Marriage Touching mixt ours 368 N Touching Natural ability 294 295 397 Nation Wherein a Nations strength lies 378 A Nations gray hairs or the fore-runners of a Nations period 382 O Orphans Gods care of them 110 Obedience The properties of true obedience implied 141 Prayer AGainst praying to Angels and Saints departed 25 137 Why God oft answers prayer in kind 42 When answer of prayer in kind is done in love 43 Special seasons of prayer 138 204 Acceptable prayer 177 The power of it 213 A pleasant comfortable duty 217 Neglect of it a great evil 356 Presumption See Impenitency Whence it springs 28 98 123 263 264 350 One branch of it 348 350 Caution to presumptuous sinners 305 Peace The excellency of peace with God 96 How to get and keep pease with God 92 281 A threefold peace 221 276 279 Christian peace considered as a grace and as a priviledg 277 On what a sinners peace is grounded 278 Parents Mothers if able ought to unrse their children 109 Patents duty towards children 110 248 Promises How God makes good temporal promises implied 158 Preaching What power God puts forth in it 299 Providence How far we may and how far not know its events 258 260 Pride In Habit and naked Shoulders and Breasts reproved 265 Pardon The extent of pardoning mercy 295 God pardons repeated
of them And what ever they do for Him it is pleasing and acceptable to him As for wicked men God loathes all that comes from them He does not take it kindly at their hands but rather quarrels and findes fault with it and excepts against it as we find often in Scripture Should I accept this from you Mal. 1.13 And who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts Isa 1.12 He takes no pleasure in fools as it is Eccles 5.4 But for His Servants He is pleased to imploy them and He is pleased also with their Imployment Thus we see how in all these respects and Considerations which we have now mentioned the Lord takes pleasure in those that are his In their Persons and in their Graces and their Prayers and all their Services All which together make it up that He takes pleasure in them themselves as is here declared Now for the amplifying and further illustrating of this present Point before us This Delight which God takes in his people is considerable in these following Circumstances 1. As Free 2. As Lasting 3. As Operative and Efficacious First of all It is Free and Originated in Himself The Reason why men doe Delight and take pleasure in one another it is for the most part from some excellency in the Object moving them and inclining them thereunto from some sutableness to the Person delighted in and the Person that does Delight in him But in Gods delighting in His people there 's no such matter It is all here of Free Grace and Favour His taking Pleasure it does proceed from his Good-pleasure And there 's no other Account which can be given of it but His own Will As Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord loved you because He loved you that is His love it is best resolved into Himself as the proper cause and spring of it This is a very great Inlargement and Amplification of it unto us We count it a great piece of Favour especially in Great Persons to own Worth where they find it and to Delight in men there where they have somewhat amiable and delightful in them But to delight in any of their own accord and purely from the Goodness of their own nature without any thing worthy in the Person this is reckon'd a great Favour indeed why this is the case of Gods Delight and pleasure-taking in his servants It is there where they have nothing to move him or provoke him to it at least but what he himself first puts into them They are Comely with his Comeliness which he hath put upon them and from thence amiable to Him Secondly This Complacency and delight which God takes in his people it is lasting and Continuing As for the pleasure of men it is very uncertain and mutable they may delight in one at one time and disrelish him again at another as there are frequent experiences of it But the delight which God takes in his servants it is of a fixed and continued Nature and whom he loves he loves to the end The gists and calling of God are without Repentance This proceeds not onely from the Vnchangeableness which is in Himself but also from the Consideration of that Person through whom he is pleased with them and does accept of them this as I shewed before is Jesus Christ the Son of his Love forasmuch as God's love to Beleivers it is laid and founded in Christ therefore so long as he delights and takes pleasure in Christ he will do so in them also and his love can no more fail to them then to Christ Himself in whom he loves them Thirdly This Delight of God's it is Operative and Efficacious it is such as makes us to delight in God again and so it is mutual and Reciprocall Men they do sometimes delight and take pleasure in such kind of Persons as do not again delight in them but with God now it is otherwise where he is pleased at any time to fasten his Love and Affection upon any person he does cause him to make answerable returns in some degree of love unto him We love him says St. John because he first loved us not only as meriting it for us but as working it in us and not onely as the motive of our Love but also as the Efficient Therefore from hence by the way may we make a discovery to our selves of Gods delight in our selves namely according to this answerable Effect which it hath upon our own Hearts If so be he delights in us we shall also delight in Him and we may know the one by the other Those that shall say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledg of thy ways Those that care not to approach to God nor to injoy any Communion with him they may from thence very easily conclude that God does not delight in them forasmuch as this Delight it is operative and Efficacious And those are the several Amplifications of this Delight which is here mentioned to us Now this point thus illustrated to us it may be fruitful in sundry Inferences and deductions which may be drawn from it by way of Improvement and Application First In a way of Comfort and Consolation to the servants of God here 's matter of great Incouragement to them that God himself does take pleasure in in them and thus it is so in sundry respects First In point of Honour it is a great Dignity and Advancement to them We know in the affaires of the world that every one is so far Honourable as he is respected by persons of Honour those who have men of Quality to own them and to take delight in them they have so far forth a great deal of Excellency and Renown put upon them Now thus it is with all those who are true Beleivers and members of Christ they have the great God of Heaven and Earth himself takeing pleasure in them which is the highest Promotion of them Since thou wast precious in my sight thou wast Honourable because I have loved thee says God to Israel in Esay 43.4 And so it hold good of every Christian and Beleiver whatsoever He is so far forth Honourable as he is in favour with God Himself as well-pleased with Him Secondly In point of Safety it holds good in that respect likewise because God delights in his servants he will therefore protect them every one is Chary of that wherein they take pleasure for the keeping and preserving of it and as near as he can will not suffer any Evil to befall it Why thus now it is with God to his people He that toucheth them toucheth the Apple of their Eye as he has exprest it about them Zach. 2.8 So Esay 27.3 Speaking of his Vineyard that is his Church I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment least any hurt it I will keep it Night and Day Men care not what becomes of the Wilderness of dry and barren Ground because they have no pleasure
in that but for their Gardens and Orchards and Vineyards wherein they take much delight these they are carefull of the preservation of them upon hat account And so is the Lord of his Church and People in whom he delights Thirdly In point of Provision God takes pleasure in them and therefore he will take care of them and see that nothing which is fitting for them may be wanting unto them It is that which may very much strengthen the Faith of Gods people in his Providence to consider that they are such as are in special favour with God The Lord God is a Son and sheild the Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly as the Prophet David tells us in Psal 84.11 There 's nothing which they can need or desire but they may be sure to have it confer'd and bestowed upon them What is thy Petition and it shall be given thee even to the half of my Kingdom It was the saying of Ahasuerus to Queen Hester in whom he delighted she could ask nothing but she might have it It is said in Psal 35.27 That God takes pleasure in the Prosperity of his Servants Now how does he come to take pleasure in their Prosperity but because he first takes pleasure in their Persons while their Persons are acceptable to Him their Conditions are accordingly ordered and provided for by Him and while he takes pleasure in their Prosperity he cannot indure to behold their Destruction This is a very Comfortable Meditation under the greatest fears and perplexities that may be when the Servants of God do not know what will become of them as to such and such particulars yet knowing for the General that they are in favour and acceptance with him they may from hence conclude and be assured that therefore nothing shall befall them amiss or therwise then is convenient for them Thus David Himself reason'd and teaches us to reason likewise 2 Sam. 15.25.26 If I shall find favour in the Eyes of the Lord he will then bring me back again and show me his Ark and his Habitation But if he shall say I have no delight in thu behold here am I let him do to me as seemoth good unto Him Thus we should learn to resolve and to determine in such Cases as these are that so far forth as we are delightful to God and as he takes any pleasure in us we cannot Miscarry The Lord taketh pleasure in his people and he beautifieth the Meek with Salvation they are both joyned together Psal 149.4 But here it may be seasonably demanded and inquired into by us how far forth this may be known and discovered to us that we are such indeed in whom the Lord does take pleasure I answer briefly thus First by his Communion with us those that delight in any persons they never care to be out of their Company nor to have them out of their sight they love to be Continually in presence and society with them Now according to this Character may we judge of Gods delight in our selves when as namely he draws nearer unto us by the Gracious motions and influences of his Spirit There are sweet and Heavenly intercourses betwixt God and that Soul which he delights in when men shall pass from day to day and have no converse at all with God by his Spirit but shall carry Himself as a Stranger to them and be averse from them it is a sign that he hath no delight in them but delight it is still followed with Society and Communion as belonging thereunto Secondly By his Imployment of us those that men take any delight in they will make use of them upon all occasions and do take pleasure in setting them on work but now when God shall lay men aside as useless and unprofitable persons they are as so many Vessels wherein is no pleasure as the Scripture expresses it so far forth as God delights to imploy us so far forth does he delight in us Hide not thy face far from me put not away thy Servant in Anger they both go together Psal 27.9 Thirdly By his kindness to us and the things which he does for us his delight in us is discovered by that especially according to the Nature and Quality of them Those that God delights in he delights to do good to their Souls and their inward man to mortify their Lusts to subdue their Corruptions to preserve them from Temptations He that pleaseth God shall not be taken in such snares whereas others shall be taken in them and by them So far as God favours a man he will keep him from great Miscarriages and from an allowance and indulgence of Less And that 's the first use of this point in a way of Consolation The Second may be in a way of Conviction to perswade us more and more of this Truth for although this be so indeed as has been now shewn and declared unto us yet it is that which the Servants of God do not always so readily Beleive and entertain in their minds There is a base and secret Jealousy which is apt oftentimes to arise in the people of God so as to think and suspect as if God took not that pleasure in them which indeed he does And therefore there can never be too much said to perswade them of this point now before us The Ground of this Suspition in them does for the most part proceed from his outward Carriage and Dispensations to them they cannot think that God delights in them so long as he Corrects and Chastises them but do from hence conclude rather that he hates them This was the mistake of Gideon Judg. 6.12.13 When the Angel of the Lord came to him with this salutation The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour Then Gideon said unto him Oh my Lord If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us He could not think that Gods presence and his Corrections could consist together when as they were such as were very well Consistant Because whom he loveth he Chasteneth c. And so it is also in the Misconceit of Sion Esay 49.14 When it was said in the verse before that God had Comforted his people and would have Mercy upon his Afflicted but Sion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me This is that which the dearest Servants of God are subject to and therefore they have need to be well-setled and confirmed in such Truths as these are and to consider them and rule them in their thoughts which howsoever perhaps at other times they may think they are sufficiently perswaded of yet in times of trouble and outward Calamity they are very ready to call into question Thirdly It serves in a way of Exhortation and Excitement and that to a double purpose and intent First To teach the servants of God by way of gratitude and thankful returns to delight in Him Secondly